Somebody To Lean On
by DeborahSulkin
Summary: Cases seem to be taking their toll on Emily and eventually she finds out why. Just as she thought she was alone in everything, she finds that the team is there for her, and one Agent in particular.
1. Discoveries

**Somebody To Lean On -**

**A Criminal Minds Fan fiction -**

**Written By: AutumnMalarkey.**

**Chapter 1: Discoveries**

"Prentiss." Hotch called over to her. Her eyes met with his, and she could not help but feel the spark between them.

"Yes, Sir?" She began to stand up.

"You're coming to the latest crime scene with me. Rossi and JJ, go to the latest victims house!" He instructed; knowing fully well that Reid and Morgan were already trying their best to get one step ahead of the killer.

"Sure." She stood up, not feeling all to well as a light headed feeling came over her head, she stood still. Waiting until the feeling passed. And when it did, she followed Hotch out to the Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV). Upon seeing her nearing the car, Hotch felt worried, and not just a normal worry, a worry he felt deeply for the woman he loved. The paleness of her face told him something was not alright.

"Are you alright, Prentiss?" He asked, keeping her Agent name to make it sound more boss like.

"Yeah, I'm fine." A small smile was flashed his way as she climbed into the passenger side of the vehicle. Hotch knew more than to argue with her; he knew she was as professional as him and if she thought it was something that would risk someone else's life or one of the team's she would have told him.

"Alright then." He followed suit and got into the car, putting the key into the ignition he began to drive towards a crime scene.

Being only half of the way there, Emily cursed to herself. Not understanding why her body hated her at the minute, but, she could not stop, as bile rose in her throat, she knew she was going to be sick.

"Pull over." She instructed and Hotch looked at her as if she were crazy.

"What?" He asked, still driving at the same speed as before. He glanced over as she shouted for him to pull over again, and saw as her pale face turned a slight green. Quickly, he pulled over into the side of the abandoned road by some bushes and watched as she darted out of the car, not forgetting to shut the door behind herself, hoping Hotch did not have to see or hear what was about to happen. Much to her annoyance, Hotch felt a mass of concern and also left the car, going over to where she was violently retching, he cringed slightly before panicking about what to do. As a result, he did the only thing he could do; crouch down behind her back, pulled her hair from her face and held it back as he rubbed smooth circles on her upper back, soothingly and did not stop until he heard the vomiting stop.

"Are you alright?" He asked, still not stopping the motion entirely until she nodded. "Alright then." Leaving her side, Hotch went and got a water bottle from in the car and passed it over to her before his phone started vibrating and ringing out an awful tone. "Excuse me." He walked away from Emily who was washing her mouth out with the water. "Hotchner." He announced.

"Hey Hotch, any leads from the crime scene?" Morgan's voice came over the other end, and immediately Hotch knew that Morgan and Reid could find nothing more from what little they had.

"Yeah, there has been a delay. We haven't got there yet." Hotch informed him.

"What is wrong? Did you get a flat? Run out of gas? Did _something _happen?" The worry in Morgan's voice was evident.

"No, but Prentiss is sick." Hotch regretted saying that as the second the words left his mouth, a loud, ear piercing 'what?' came over the phone. "She has just threw up and she didn't look too good before, I think I'm going to take her to the hotel and then go to the crime scene." It did not take a profiler to know that Morgan had just nodded.

"Alright, Hotch, just make sure she is fine before you leave her." Concern was evident in his voice.

"I will." Hotch then hung up and helped Emily as she stood up.

"Are you alright? Any dizziness? More nausea?" His hand went to her forehead which was a normal temperature.

"No, Hotch, I'm fine." She moved away from his hand, letting it drop back to his side.

"Really, because you just threw up and earlier you looked like you were going to pass out, Prentiss!" There it was again, his emotional concern turning back to professional. "Have you had a bump to the head recently?" He asked, needing to know if she had to go to the hospital.

"No, Hotch." She replied again, like a stubborn three year old.

"Maybe I should just take you in to be on the safe side." He paused, thinking.

"No, I'm fine, seriously. I think it's just food poisoning or the flu or something…" She too paused in thought, knowing her '_or something'_ was a massive or something. "Can I just go back to the hotel?" She asked, looking down at the ground where her foot had somehow buried itself in the mud with the movement of her awkwardness from having to ask, Hotch, too, picked up on the action.

"Sure." He helped her into the car and waiting for her to fasten her seatbelt. Giving her the bottle of water back, he went over to the drivers side and drove away, back in the direction of the station and hotel.

"Emily… Em, wake up." She heard the hazy voice and slowly opened her eyes, looking at the blonde woman in front of her. "It's time to go home." JJ explained, but her explanation only confused Emily further as she wondered how long she had been asleep for.

"Wh-What?" She groggily asked, sitting up.

"The case is done. Hotch and Morgan found a massive clue at the last crime scene and the second he got his next victim, we had him." She once again filled her in.

"How long…?" She asked, utterly confused.

"You've been asleep since you got in the car with Hotch, he carried you up here, it's about four am now." She finally gave her the information she needed and Emily nodded.

"Thanks. But, why are we leaving so early?" She asked, even more confused.

"Hotch wanted to get home in time to get Jack to school and I miss Will and Henry." Emily knew immediately what it was now, their children. The one thing she would most likely never have. She always believed that, and even after everything that happened today, she still believed it would never happen.

"Sure. Just let me get my things." As a response, JJ held up her go bag to show her she had already packed. "'Kay then, Thunderbirds are go!" She joked and JJ smiled at her.

"You seem better." She commented as she helped her up from her bed.

"Yeah, I feel better too. It was probably just the car journey." JJ nodded, knowing that it can happen to everyone.

"Alright then. But just to be sure you should probably sleep it off on the jet anyway." She opened the door and waited for Emily to leave before locking the door and walking down the hall.

"Sure I will."

It seemed that Emily had done a complete re-enactment of before; as she was being shook awake again, she wondered how she had even gotten onto the plane.

"You fell asleep in the car again." Hotch explained and Emily nodded. "Come on, we have landed." He told her again and Emily's eyes looked around the plane to find only her and Hotch left. "I'm driving you home." He informed her.

"What time is it?" She looked and saw sun coming through the windows of the jet.

"About 7." Emily once again nodded.

"I feel completely better now so I should get back to work. Paperwork isn't going to do itself!" She joked, but Hotch did not crack a smile.

"Prentiss, you obviously aren't fine. You've slept fifteen hours straight through!" He groaned.

"Which is why I am well rested and ready to work, Hotch." She glared at him, and knew Hotch was not going to budge… not with out some pushing.

"I swear, either you drive me there, or you drive me home and I then take myself there." She gave him no way out, and Hotch, admittedly, just wanted to get home to Jack.

"Alright, I'll take you to the BAU." He succumbed and helped her from her seat.

Walking into the familiar bullpen, she immediately felt two sets of eyes on her.

"Princess, not that I'm not happy to see you or anything, but why are you here?" Emily heard Morgan ask.

"I'm fine now. Well rested and raring to go. Which is a hell of a lot less than what I can say about you two." Her head motioned towards Morgan then Reid as she walked over to her desk and sat down.

"Well, it is apparently a 'paperwork' day. JJ hasn't had any cases come through." Reid explained and Emily nodded slightly. She sighed at the massive pile of files on her desk and picked up a pen and the first folder, she began working.

After a serious four hours of working, two of the three agents found themselves getting restless, Morgan watched as Emily's pen practically gave off steam, quietly as he could, he scrunched up a piece of paper and watched as he threw it and it bounced off of Emily's head and landed on her desk. Her eyes came up, shooting daggers at Morgan, but a slow smile grew and he could see her joking side as she picked it up and hit him with the paper again.

"Guys." Reid looked at them, unsure of what to do or say. Also slightly amused. He watched as Morgan reached for the piece of paper and was about to throw it when Emily bolted from her seat and began running around the bullpen, Morgan chasing her every move. The piece of paper went back and forth between the two of them before they heard a voice over the balcony.

"Morgan, Prentiss, what the hell?" It was not as powerful as their boss' voice, but it was enough to make them halt. Both of them looked up at Rossi who was standing looking amused.

Emily tried her best to focus on the older man. Blinking several times, then taking deep breaths, but nothing was helping. The only thing she knew to do right now was to sit down. But her chair seemed so far away. Morgan, who held the piece of paper in his right hand, raised his arm and lashed it in Emily's way. But just as the paper was hurtling through the air, it missed her, just by an inch or so. No, not because Morgan was a rubbish shot, it was right on target, but, Emily's legs buckled from underneath her, her eyes lolled in her head and she began falling to the floor. Morgan saw her pale face, and watched her knees drop and began to race to her side, catching her only seconds before she hit the floor.

"Prentiss." He shook her slightly. "Prentiss, wake up." He slapped her cheek lightly in an attempt to wake her, but nothing happened. "Reid, Rossi, someone call an ambulance." He ordered to the two men now around him, along with a crowd of other people from the pen. Within seconds, Rossi was on the phone and he informed them about her sickness earlier.

"They said to lie her on the floor and get a jacket or something to put under her head." As he said it, Reid was already six steps ahead, grabbing a jacket and rolling it to put it under her head.

"Morgan? Reid?" Emily groggily opened her eyes to look at the people over her. She attempted to sit up, but was held down by Morgan.

"Stay lying down, Princess." His hand did the same as Hotch's had done the previous day, and went to her forehead. Prentiss reached up and threw his hand off of her.

"I am fine, just help me up." She tried to stand and saw everyone around her, not willing to help her, "Fine then." Finally, she stood up, holding onto Rossi's arm tightly.

"Come on, let's get you to the couch in my office." Helping her, he watched as she carefully went up the stairs and into his office. Carefully pushing her onto the couch he sat next to her. Rossi was about to ask if she felt better now, when two paramedics walked into the office followed by Morgan and Reid.

"Hello, Miss Prentiss-" The first, taller, blonde paramedic was cut off.

"Agent Prentiss." She snapped with a slight un-amused glare. The first paramedic stood still, in shock.

"Alright, Agent Prentiss, we understand that you fainted a few minutes ago." The second, smaller brown haired paramedic said.

"Yes…" She urged him on, feeling slightly embarrassed and vulnerable.

"And you threw up yesterday…" He waited for her to nod. "Okay, have you been feeling exhausted?" She once again, sent him another nod. He sighed, "Is there a possibility that you are pregnant Agent Prentiss?" She knew the question was coming and her cheeks began to burn.

"No." Her avoidance of eye contact with the three men, three profilers to be exact, proved that she knew that answer was not true. Apparently it did not take a profiler to figure that out as the two paramedics also noticed her looks.

"Okay then, we think it is best that you come to the hospital with us, just for a few blood tests." Her head began to shake. "I really think it will be best-"

"No." She cut him off again, "I will go later, after work, but for now I am fine." She watched at the paramedics walked away and without letting any of the boys talk, she left the office and went back to her desk. Morgan, Reid and Rossi following her.

"Good morning my chocolate Adonis!" Garcia smiled as she carried a cup of coffee over to Morgan's desk. After getting no reply and seeing all three men over Prentiss' desk, she knew something was wrong.

"What is wrong?" She asked, leaving the coffee and speeding towards them.

"Emily has just passed out." Reid informed her, and now Garcia was in a bigger state of panic than what she was in before.

"What? Are you okay? Did someone call an ambulance?" She looked at all three men.

"The paramedics just left after Em refused to go to the hospital with them. Apparently she's 'going to go later'." Rossi mocked.

"You need to go to the hospital, Em." Garcia gave her a stern look.

"I'm fine, leave me alone. I promise I will go after work."

"Oh, I know you will, because I'm driving you there." Garcia gave up and succumbed to just letting her have her way.

"That's not necessary." Emily said.

"Oh, I think it is." Garcia replied, once again giving her a stern look.

"Fine." She grumbled, at least it was not one of the guys.

"Good, see you at four. It's a date!" She chirped, picking the coffee back up off of Morgan's desk and passing everyone a quick smile before leaving to her office.

Prentiss noticed the blonde come bounding out of her office at around five and she groaned slightly; there was definitely no way to get out of it now. She knew this evening was going to be long, and if it was not bad enough to be dragged to the hospital by Garcia, Hotch and JJ had arrived at work halfway though the afternoon, and of course, Emily's 'faint' was the first thing they heard about. Now, as much as she loved JJ, she really did not want to be accompanied to the hospital by her as well. If that was not bad enough, it was the stern, strict voice of Hotch as he called her up to his office and tried to force her to go to the hospital. But, no matter what had happened it no longer mattered. In less than a minute she would be getting taken out of the Behavioural Analysis Unit (BAU) and getting in Garcia's car. Emily groaned, not out loud, but in her head. She decided that it would be best if she tried to finish this file before going, so her pen worked at 60 miles per hour over the crisp white paper until the light on the white page disappeared, and a shadow covered over it.

"C'mon, Sweetpea." She looked up and met her eyes with Garcia's.

"Two seconds." She went back to writing until the pen seemed to be stolen from her hand.

"No, now." She looked up and saw that Morgan had stolen her pen.

"Fine, whatever." She grumbled. Picking her coat off of the back of her chair and her purse from under it, she left with Garcia.

"How are you feeling now?" Garcia asked, as they neared her car.

"Fine. Honestly." She looked her straight in the eye.

"Alright then, even if you are feeling fine now, something really is not right about fainting and throwing up." She unlocked the car and both got inside of it.

"Garcia." She got the voluptuous blonde to look at her. "When we get to the hospital, can you wait outside in the waiting room? I would rather do this on my own." Hearing the vulnerability and shakiness in Emily's voice, she knew that something was worrying her.

"Sure, as long as you don't run off once you are through the doors." She smiled at her, settling the mood as Emily smiled back at her.

The drive was silent, not another word passed between the two. Emily's head rested against the back of her chair, her eyes shut and she felt her exhausted body relax. This was beginning to annoy her now, for the past month she had been getting more and more tired, dizzy, nauseous. This was all her own fault; being dragged to the hospital, she knew she should have taken the test the second she suspected it. But she could not, it brought back all of the memories from when she was fifteen. All the pain, loss, friendship. She would never forget what Matthew had done for her, especially after all she had done to him. But none the less, she wished he was here right now, holding her hand like he had fifteen years ago just when she found out about the baby the first time. The baby. She or he would have been about 23 by now. She would have been a mother. Something she longed to be. Wanted for so long. Another reason why she had not taken that test. The long reason was that she does not think she could have faced the disappointment. The pain of never getting what she wanted, what her womanly right is. She realised as the car slowed down, that they must have arrived, so she sat up and started to unbuckle her seatbelt.

"C'mon." Garcia turned the car off and left her side, going round and helping Emily out.

"Garcia, I told you, I'm fine. What the hell are you doing?" She rhetorically asked.

Both walked towards the large white building.

The second they entered the hospital, they were met with loud noises, cries, a room full of people.

"Go sit down, I'll get them to sign you in." Garcia smiled and motioned towards a chair and watched as she sat down before going to the desk.

Apparently, the second you mention 'sick, FBI Agent' they admit you in record time, for, only five minutes later, were they being taken back into a more main part of the hospital. Garcia went and sat in the waiting room as Emily was taken to a horrible, sterile room; she always hated hospitals.

"Take a seat, please, Miss…" The slightly younger, brunette doctor checked a clipboard from in her hands.

"Agent Prentiss." She avoided the looks of the doctor and gave yet another yawn.

"Alright, Agent Prentiss, I'm Doctor Young." Doctor Young watched carefully as she yawned and took a seat in front of Emily. "How long have you been feeling exhausted?"

"Er… I would say about a month or so." Emily watched what the Doctor was writing.

"Did it start after a specific thing or was it just random exhaustion?" Emily did not want to lie to the doctor, she had no clue why. It probably would have been a hell of a lot easier than lying to the four profilers on her team, but she did.

"I think it was after a case in Connecticut. It tired out the whole team, but I seemed to be the most tired and once I got back the vomiting started which really was not helpful."

"You have been throwing up?" More notes were written on the board as Emily nodded. "A kind of sick throwing up or what?" She carried on writing as Emily answered her.

"Just sometimes when I wake up or if the smell is over powerful." Doctor Young nodded.

"And you fainted today?" Another nod. "Did that just happen today, or have you fainted before?"

"Not until today, but I have felt like I was going to. I just go dizzy, but the difference is I sit down for a few minutes when I feel dizzy." More notes were taken.

"But today you couldn't do that?" Emily shook her head and waited another minute while more notes were being taken.

"Agent Prentiss, is there a chance you could be pregnant?" Emily paused… what was she supposed to tell her? "I'm guessing that is a yes?" Another simple nod and the clipboard was put down. "I will be just a minute; I'm going to get someone from maternity. The woman in the waiting room, do you want her to come in here? Hold you hand?" She smiled slightly.

"No, it's alright." Emily sent her a smile back.

"Okay then, while I'm gone do you think you can get yourself up on the bed?" She signalled over to the bed in the corner and Emily nodded. "Alright then." Doctor Young left the room.

It took a minute or so before Emily even moved. Still in shock of what was happening. It was now or never. In about twenty minutes there is a chance she could be becoming a mother. Her hand went to her stomach. Tears welling up in her eyes; this was so much like when she was fifteen. All except she had someone there to hold her hand all the way though. This time, she was alone. Only slightly. She might never be alone again, not for around nine months or so. She gave a sigh and left the seat, going over to the horrible bed in the corner and carefully lying down on it. At the time, that wait seemed like the longest wait ever but soon the door re-opened and in walked Doctor Young with a Doctor from maternity and quite a large machine.

"Hello, Agent Prentiss, I'm Doctor Neavy from the maternity ward." As Doctor Young was setting up the machine, he walked towards her. "Can you lift your top up for me?" He waited for her to lift her t-shirt ever so slightly before pressing his hands into her stomach around different areas, checking for a mass. Once he found some, he grabbed a bottle of blue gel. "This may be cold." He poured the gel on, and cold was an under exaggeration as Emily gave a soft hick in her breathing from the cold hitting her skin. "Let's see if we have a surprise for you." He turned the machine on and Emily felt her eyes tightly close. Contrary to what she had felt before, she now knew this to be the longest wait ever. Her heart thumped in her chest and her breathing was shaky as she felt the wand travelling over her stomach until she heard the words that stunned her.

"And here, is baby." It took another while for her to open her eyes and looked over at the screen. She felt her smile grow slightly.

"My baby?" he nodded.

"I'll just go and get you a copy of the picture."

Her hand held onto her pants pocket, holding onto the scan picture, not that anyone knew that. Once she left the hospital room, she had put the scan away and told Garcia that the doctor told her it was because she was exhausted and slightly run down with the flu. Of course, Garcia had believed her and immediately offered to stay with her through the night. Obviously, Emily said that she did not have to and told her she probably would just be sleeping any way. With all of that over and done with, she now sat back in the warm car, her hand over her stomach protectively. She was glad Garcia was not a profiler; she was not even picking up on the small action. And she was happy, for the time being. Just her and her baby, no one else had to know about them. They never should, they would just ruin it all.


	2. Danger Danger

Somebody To Lean On -

A Criminal Minds Fan fiction -

Written By: AutumnMalarkey.

**I apologise for any spelling mistakes or typo's in this story as it is my NaNoWriMo story, I feel that I barely have had the time to write it, let alone proof read it. However, if anyone wants to be my beta-reader they're welcome, just PM me.**

**This is dedicated to everyone who favourited and/or alerted to this story, of course, I got all of the e-mails and it's like a mini-review in a way, so thank you and enjoy! - AutumnMalarkey. **

**Chapter 2: Danger Danger.**

"This is Mia Walker, she is 39, brunette and has a large build. She was killed just two days ago." JJ clicked the remote in her hand and a picture showed of a slaughtered woman lying in a dumpster. Everyone in the room sat un-cringed besides the Technical Analyst, Penelope Garcia. "3 other women were found in the exact same way, with the exact same look. Layla Jensen, was reported missing one month ago, and was found in a dumpster three weeks ago. Kaley Porter went missing a few hours after Layla's body was found three weeks ago and was found in a dumpster two weeks ago and Meaghan Howard was taken shortly after Kaley's body was found two weeks ago, and she was found last week." She clicked through each horrifying picture.

"So he basically takes them for a week, then kills them?" JJ nodded to Reid's question.

"Well, according to pattern, someone else has gone missing…" Emily inputted just as JJ clicked the remote in her hand again.

"Caitlin Bryan. Was reported missing three days ago by a neighbour." She informed them.

"Three days? That means we only have four more days to save her."

As Emily's eyes came to close she remembered the horrific memory of the last week. The sting in her arm, the bruise in her back, on her face. It was all too close for comfort. She remembers the body, lying in the dumpster, placed messily, blood everywhere. Her vomiting on the side and JJ coming over to her concerned. Emily had told her that today she was too tired to even bother compartmentalising. Everything was just too overwhelming and everything was taking it's toll on her. Hotch knew this was not going to be easy. Another woman would go missing soon and they still had no leads. They needed to stop it. So he did all he knew to do. Sent out one of his team undercover that fitted the profile, unfortunately, that meant Prentiss and her baby were at a risk. She regretted not telling him right then about the baby, but she could still do her job, so, dressing in slightly less professional clothing, she walked around the local park that lunch time, stopping to eat something, stopping at the swing park. But she carried on just walking through the park. As she came to a more secluded area, she heard leaves rustling. The footsteps and before she knew it, a cloth was over her mouth, knocking her to sleep… Waking up sometime that night, she heard Hotch talking in her ear, and her eyes flew open, only to reveal a dark, cold, horrible basement that she was stuck in. Her heart stopped, no sign of Hotch, maybe she had not been saved. But the voice came again.

"Prentiss… Emily, wake up." He must have said it another three or four times before she responded.

"I'm awake, Hotch." She heard relieved sighs.

"Can you tell us where you are?" He asked, hopefully.

"No, he knocked me out, I don't remember a thing." Now panic had started to set into her; if they could not get to her in time, she would be dead, and if they could not get to her in the next few hours, her baby might be too.

"Alright, don't panic, we're trying to find you now. Do you see anything that could be of use to us?" He asked, patiently. Emily's eyes, on the other hand, were doing the exact opposite as she panicked, looking round the room frantically she found a small window.

"There's a small window. Not big enough for me to climb through." She informed Hotch.

"Okay, try and look through it, see what is on the other side, anything that could be helpful." Still slightly dizzy from the drugs she walked, wobbly, over to the window and climbed on a desk to peer out.

"It seems to be a neighbour hood. Kids playing, people walking dogs. It's really surreal and calm." She told him.

"And I'm guessing that you are in a soundproof basement then?" He asked.

"I would think so, but I'm not testing it out." She heard Hotch rustle on the other end.

"Alright, that's understandable." He was about to say something else to Emily when he heard the basement door fly open and footsteps begin to heavily come down the stairs. His heart stopped in his chest.

Emily panicked, and raced back over to where she had previously lay on the floor, her eyes shutting once again as she pretended to still be asleep.

"Wakey, wakey." She heard his voice say, and he was quite obviously drunk.

Everything that happened next was a blur, a very painful one as she was dragged off of the floor by a man's hand in her hair. A punch to the face and she cried out, she was threw over into the wall on the side, and her back immediately bruised, and her arm collided with a fish hook on the wall as it dug in her right arm and ripped her skin open. Her left arm, all the time, staying at her stomach, stopping him from harming her baby. The next thing she remembered was grabbing a bucket of fish bait off of the shelf and hitting the unsub over the head with it, sending him flat out cold. Before she could do anything else, she raced up the stairs and tried to open the door, finding it to be locked she searched frantically for the key, but figured it probably had dropped somewhere amidst the fight. Instead of a key, she found his wallet, in his trouser pocket, and inside was his drivers license.

"Edd Harding." She said snappily. Waiting to hear a reply and in a second or two she heard Garcia telling the team an address.

"Okay, Em, we're coming." Morgan said into her ear piece.

"Hurry, please." Her eyes closed as she took herself away from the place, imagining herself to be lying in Hotch's arms, her baby next to them, and Jack smiling happily at the baby. All the time while clutching a plank she had managed to get off of an old boat in the basement; just a precaution in case he woke back up. Apparently he never did, as the next thing she remembered was the door flying off of it's hinges and a loud set of four or five footsteps coming down the stairs. Her eyes opened to meet the eyes of her team and she smiled slightly. JJ carefully guided her out of the basement and up onto the street where an EMT team waited.

Emily opened her eyes and looked around at the BAU jet. She saw everyone but Hotch asleep, and he was not watching her, so she slowly, trailed her hand to her stomach, and rubbed in small circles. She hated today, all the pain, she could have lost the baby at any moment. What if the punch had been to her stomach and not her face? Instead of her back going to the wall, it could have been her front. What had the drugs used to knock her out done to the baby? Of course she was not getting the baby checked out while the rest of the team were watching, so she decided that once they landed she would go to the hospital and get checked. Her teeth chewed at her bottom lip, trying to stop herself from wincing with the pain in her arm. Yes, she had been given painkillers, yes, they had stopped to get the prescription, no, she had not taken them. Emily already knew, on the back of the bottle lay a warning. 'Do not take if pregnant'. She guessed she had put the baby in enough danger today without adding that on top of it. Her heart sank; she was going to be an awful mother. She could not even protect the baby when it was in her womb never mind when it was born. That was it, today was too much of a close call for Emily, and she stood up and went over to the other person awake on the jet. As she walked over towards Hotch, her heart was beating sixty times a minute.

"Sir, can we talk?" She gulped slightly.

"Sure, Prentiss. Sit down." As she sat down, he put the file on the table in front of him. "What's this about?" Emily became lost for words, just staring into his eyes. "Prentiss?" He snapped her out of her thoughts, watching as she nervously twiddled her thumbs.

"I… er… I'm." She had no way how to phrase it, and with her nervousness it was not coming out right.

"Just calm down." She felt Hotch's hand steady hers which only made her more nervous. "Deep breath." She took a long, deep breath.

"I'm pregnant." She had no clue what was going on in Hotch's mind in the moment's pause, but she knew he figured out what she already had.

"Pregnant? As in…" He waited for her to finish.

"As I there is a baby in my stomach." She looked down at her hands.

"I got that, Prentiss. What I don't understand is how you allowed us to send you in as a hostage in the first place?" Emily heard his voice slowly raise which was not the best of things considering she did not want anyone else to know.

"I know, Hotch, just quieten down. Please." Looking into her eyes, Hotch saw a slight hint of fear, mixed with the pain from her injuries.

"Is the…" He quietened his tone to a whisper, "Is the baby okay?" For a moment Emily thought he was human!

"I don't know." Her eyes fell to her lap, avoiding the angry look from Hotch.

"Prentiss, how could you have not gotten checked out? You were drugged! Beaten!" He too looked down, missing her look of 'don't you think I already know that?' "Did you take your pain meds?" The shake of her head gave him relief. "Good, when the jet lands I will drive you to the hospital and they'll check, alright?" Emily knew the question was rhetorical, there was no way she had a choice about this.

"Yes, Sir." Another gulp made her add some more, "Please don't tell the rest of the team, not yet. I'm not ready. I will tell them when I am." A nod from Hotch made her relax a little more and both avoided each other's eyes until Emily's yawn snapped Hotch's eyes to meet her watery ones.

"Sleep." Was all he said and he watched as Emily began to stand up. "No, stay here and sleep. I'll get a blanket and pillow." As he stood up he watched the amused eye of Rossi who had woken up the second Emily tried to move back. Hotch gave him a smile before carrying the two things back, and a satisfied Rossi nodded back off to sleep. Carefully he helped Emily adjust so her back and arm were not causing her any pain and then threw the blanket over her. The last thing Emily remembered before she went to sleep was the one thing she would remember forever, the soft smile Hotch gave her, and the human words of, "Good night, Emily."

Emily was unsure what had woken her up, maybe it was just the plane moving? But she felt it again, it was like a soft nudge in her leg. That was weird, she thought as she sat up and her eyes fell into Hotch's brown ones.

"We're landing in fifteen." He informed her and Emily immediately registered that everyone else on the plane was still asleep and understood what Hotch had meant when he told her that. Slowly, as the ache in her back only increased, she went back to her seat, taking the blanket and pillow with her. Her eyes shut again, never realising how tired she was until she was in a deep sleep. Obviously, this sleep was not that deep, as she heard distorted voices in the back of her mind of Hotch waking everyone up on the plane and telling them they had ten minutes left. She then heard the distorted voice of Morgan, asking if they were going to wake her up yet. Then Hotch's answer of no, leave her to sleep for a little longer. The rest of the words became blur as she felt her mind leave completely and herself drop back into the full deep sleep she was accustomed to before.

The next time she woke up, it was because the cut in her arm was being poked and she really felt the sting that time. Instead of her eyes just opening, she shot up from her seat in an attempt to move her arm away from the thing causing her the pain, only to regret it as her head collided with Hotch's and she doubled back into her seat in pain.

"Ah, Hotch, sorry." She apologised fast and took a quick glance at him as he was checking his head for any blood or bump.

"It's fine, Prentiss, I should know better than to wake a sleeping, pregnant profiler." Now, if the poke had not woke her up before, it was the 'pregnant' part in his sentence. She looked around the jet frantically and saw that only her and Hotch remained in the metal container.

"Why are you the one still here?" She asked, holding her head still.

"I said I'd take you to the hospital, remember?" He then panicked, not that it was evident to Prentiss. "Did you bump your head too hard? We should get that checked out too…"

"No." Was all she stopped his rambling with. "I just need a blood test and a scan to find out what the hell the drug they used to knock me out with has done to the baby." She explained.

"But what if you have a concussion?"

"What are they going to do about it if I did?" Her eyes rolled.

"I guess they would probably send you home and not let you sleep for an hour or two and have someone watching you." He used his knowledge.

"I will be fine, Hotch, no one needs to watch me." She waited for a minute while he moved out of her way and she tried to get her go bag off of the shelf but Hotch beat her to it.

"Should not be carrying heavy things." He simply stated.

"It's not heavy, just a couple of tops and pants." She informed him as he put the blanket and pillow away before taking the bag off of her and helping her down the jet's stairs.

Arriving at the hospital in record time, Emily watches as Hotch races from one desk to another, trying to get her seen to as soon as possible. Once again, it's the three words 'injured' 'agent' and 'pregnant' that make them get a move on, and before she knows it, she's in a horrible room again, this time on a stingy little beige bed in a foul hospital night gown. When the doctors told her they had found no problem with the foetus she was relieved, but they said they should monitor her for any changes. That is how she ended up here. The only big difference to last time was the company. Last time she was all alone and had instructed Garcia to stay in the visitor's room, this time she was not so sure if she could have made Hotch stay there, but she was not going to protest, to be honest the company was nice. She had watched as Hotch left the room to call Jessica and tell her that he would not make it home that night. When he returned he seemed slightly pissed, so obviously that phone call did not go too well. So, Emily tried to convince him to leave, but he would not. It was a few hours after she was admitted, and horrible machines were wired to her stomach, that she finally felt her eyes close, but before she did, she tried to get Hotch to leave again.

"Go home, Hotch. Get some sleep." She tried to convince him.

"Go to sleep, Prentiss." As she dozed off she remembered him reaching over to hold her hand, and his other hand moving some hair off of her face. Both of them combined with the smile he had given her on the plane and the safety of her baby was beginning to make this a perfect day.

As she slowly woke up, her eyes opened and took in the bright light and she immediately squinted at the bright light of the sun shone in her eyes. She smirked with amusement hearing a soft snore to the side of her. A laugh through her nose at his expense woke her truly up and she attempted to sit up, forgetting that his hand was still locked in hers. The tug on his hand made him jump awake, with his profiler alert and he looked around frantically, but he stopped seeing Emily awake.

"Morning." He took his hand from hers. "Stay lying down until you get the all clear." He told her and Emily knew she had no choice but to stay down. She regretted waking him up now!

"Morning to you too, snore-y head." She laughed slightly and Hotch turned a slight shade of red.

"Sorry, did my snoring wake you up?" He wiped some sleep from his eyes and watched as she shook her head.

"No, I don't know what woke me up…" After a moments thought, her stomach began to rumble and she realised what had woken her up. "I guess it's that." Hotch gave her a little smile as she too turned slightly red.

"How about I go and get a doctor to check you over and then we go and get some breakfast?" Emily paused.

"Shouldn't you be home by now? Taking Jack to school?" She asked, afraid of the affect that night would have had on the boy.

"It's alright, Emily, don't worry. He's used to daddy not being there to take him to school." Emily groaned, not accepting that as an answer.

"What time is it?" She asked, starting to get up.

"It's just half seven." He informed her, "Prentiss, what are you doing?" He asked, not liking the look of her trying to get up, and the pain on her face as she tried to use her bad arm to get herself up.

"I'm discharging myself. I feel fine Hotch, but we both know Doctor's rounds are about ten, and if we leave now, we can pick Jack up and drop him at school." She saw him surrender, knowing the idea of seeing his little boy's happy face would make his day.

"Okay, let me just get someone to check you over first anyway." Emily knew it was a compromise so she agreed and waited for Hotch to return with a nurse.

Once she was told she was fine, Emily asked to be discharged, which, of course, the nurse protested against because it was standard procedure. But Emily decided to discharge herself anyway, and now she waited in Hotch's car, outside Hotch's house as he got Jack ready and in no time the young boy appeared at the door of the house a smile on his face that Emily knew was only reserved for his Daddy. As he raced over to the car, he threw his door open and willingly climbed into his seat, waiting for Hotch to come out and buckle him in. It had only been two minutes that they had been waiting, all the time both had been chatting with each other, but the door was also open and Emily was finding it to be unreasonably cold, so she got out of her seat and went to buckle Jack in. By the time she had clipped in the young boys' seat belt with great difficulty because of her arm, she had learned that Jessica and Hotch were having an argument, and it was over her and Jack. Her heart broke as Jack told her about the argument, and learning that he hated to see his Aunt and Daddy arguing made her tear up slightly. Even though it was only slightly, Jack saw the tears and wrapped his arms around her, enveloping her in a deep hug.

"It's okay, Em'ly. I love you." If she was not already going to cry, the words the small boy had just said were enough to make her well up all over again.

"I love you too, Jack." She gave him a small peck on the cheek, which made her smile as Jack quickly wiped away the lipstick mark she had left. "I will be right back." She told him before shutting the car door and taking Hotch's key from the ignition and locking it.

Entering the house Emily felt the mood change dramatically. She heard shouting, a lot of it, and really bad words being passed between the two people. Some of them calling her all kinds of bad things, others calling Hotch bad things and some calling Jessica bad things. And it was all over Jack. Apparently it was her fault that Jack had been sadder lately, because Hotch had been spending all of his time with her. Of course, he had been spending a lot of time with her, but he had been spending it all with the team too. The past night had been the only time he had spent with Prentiss alone. That was all. Of course, Hotch shouted that back at Jessica, and more bad words were flew around about Emily, now, she felt would be a really bad time to interrupt. But, sensing that Jack would be getting impatient in the car, she pushed the kitchen door open. The daggers that flew at her were enough to make her pass out.

"Hotch, Jack's getting impatient." She informed him.

"Oh, pretending you care now. Well, you didn't care last night when he was asking for his dad to tuck him in!" As she lunged towards Emily, she backed away slightly, not wanting to put her baby in harm again.

"Jessica, leave her the hell alone!" Hotch pulled her backwards, not in an attempt to hurt her, but in an attempt to protect Emily.

"Sticking up for her again!" She shouted and turned to pull her arm out of Hotch's. "I'm sure Little Miss Perfect over here can handle herself!" She shouted, and before she lunged to hit Emily, Emily moved out of the way.

"Prentiss, go to the car and stay there, I'll be out in a minute." She did not have to be told twice and as she left the house she heard more shouts.

It seemed to be forever until Hotch left the house and when he did, Emily could tell things did not end too well, and by the marks on his hand that were clearly scratches on his hand that was on the stirring wheel, Emily knew it had definitely ended badly. Dropping Jack off at school proved to be a bad idea as all he seemed to do was talk, and without him in the car, silence filled all of the space and Hotch could feel Emily's awkwardness.

"It's not your fault." He said, not looking at her and still looking straight at the road although he could see Emily turn to look at him from the corner of his eye.

"But the argument wouldn't have happened if it weren't for me." She tried to reason the blame onto herself but Hotch was having none of it.

"You tried to make me go home, I refused, it was all down to me. And anyway, I could have been at work that night anyway, I know I probably would have bee anyway, you were just a good reason not to be in the office for a night." Emily believed that to be true.

"But your hand, Hotch." She looked at the marks, which now were red and sticking out of his hand.

"It's nothing, Prentiss. Nothing compared to the damage of what she could have done if she had got her hands on you." Emily looked down.

"But…" Hotch cut her off.

"No buts. Look, Emily, I am the only other person that knows about the baby, and I swear no harm will come to that child while I'm around." She looked down and nodded.

"Fine." She surrendered.

"Alright, now where are we going for breakfast?" She looked up to see him smiling at her which made her smile back.

"I don't know, you pick, Sir." Emily knew, she was happy for the time being of just letting him know about the baby and as Hotch suggested places that she was not really paying attention to, her hand went to her stomach and her smile grew wider.


	3. Keep Me Safe

**Chapter 3 - Keep Me Safe**

"I really could do with Prentiss' back up on this." Morgan tried to convince Hotch for the millionth time in a minute.

"No, Morgan. She is doing some stuff at the station." Hotch's glare told Morgan to stop persisting and just leave it alone. Guns and torches out, all four men entered the dark building, no one sure who would return.

"Hey, Em." Emily's head rested heavily against her own hand, as she lay fast asleep. Her other hand, unseen, under the table, was holding onto her stomach. The pregnancy was taking a lot out of her, and Emily was getting more and more exhausted by the day. Hotch could clearly see that. To keep her out of danger, he kept her at the station, not wanting her to go into any danger at the minute. "Emily." JJ smirked slightly at her sleeping friend, and shook her shoulder which had now healed. Emily woke up with a start, her heart racing in her chest, as she quickly grabbed for her gun. "Emily, calm down, it's me, JJ." She watched as Emily's hands moved away from her gun and her hand released from her stomach. "You okay?" JJ asked, a look of concern on her face.

"Yeah, sorry, just tired." She looked down and looked back up once she felt a little more alive. "What did you want?" She gave JJ her best smile which only made her more concerned.

"Nothing. I was just going to tell you the boys caught him, and we have to get our go-bags." Emily nodded.

"Just give me a sec to pack all this up and I'll meet you out at the SUV." As Emily gathered all of the files on the table in front of her, she felt her body weaken. God, she was exhausted. At least she could sleep on the short, hour flight home. And tonight, she would have her own bed back and she could finally get comfortable. But for now, it was just a nap in the car.

The black car seemed to be warm, boiling in fact. JJ had the heating blasting on hot as Emily sat in the passenger seat. She was oblivious to anything the blonde was doing as she slept against her arm on the window. It was not a long sleep before she felt someone shake her awake again. The cool air was in no comparison to the heat in the car. She shivered as the air filled her lungs and hit her body. As she breathed out, it was so cold that her breath was visible. The plane was reasonably cold, although not as cold as outside and Emily felt herself slip into the nearest available seat and she sunk into a deep sleep without a single word.

"Is she okay?" JJ asked, after spending the whole afternoon with her she realised that Emily was not her usual self.

"Yeah, she's fine." Hotch replied.

"Really, Hotch, 'cause it's barely one in the afternoon and she is fast asleep." Morgan added.

"She's been doing a lot this case, she barely slept." Hotch answered back, feeling as though he was getting a grilling.

"Really, Hotch, 'cause I haven't saw her lift a finger!" Morgan raised his voice but was shot down by JJ.

"She has been working a lot. She's had a ton of things she has been doing." She informed him.

"Yeah, but we could have done with her on the field today!" Morgan said even louder, so loud they were all surprised that Emily did not wake up.

"Look at her, she is exhausted, that could have lead to a major mistake!" Rossi now added, and everyone fell silent, all knowing it was true.

The hour passed as quick as the argument, and before they knew it they had landed. Last on the plane was Morgan, Hotch and the still sleeping Emily.

"I'm sorry, Hotch." Morgan apologised.

"It's okay, we've all been stressed on this case." He explained and Morgan agreed. Knowing that it was Morgan and Emily he was sharing an SUV with, Hotch gently woke Prentiss up and all left for the car.

At the BAU, everyone was busily getting on with paperwork when JJ swiftly left her office going into Hotch's. They all knew what this meant.

"Uh-oh, I guess we have a case." Reid commented.

"Tough luck, Princess, no bed for a while." Morgan gave a little laugh in amusement at Emily's glare. Hotch's office door opened and he and JJ walked out with speed. JJ went into the conference room and Hotch stood up on the balcony. He called over to the team:

"Conference room in 2." Within a second of saying the words, he leaves and re-enters his office. The team knew that despite being closest to the conference room, he would be the one there last.

They were, of course, right, as only a couple of minutes after they arrived, Hotch walked in with a ton of files and he handed them out. The brief was, as usual, descriptive and disgusting, mutilated bodies everywhere. However, no matter how disgusting the place was, Emily still felt herself falling slowly asleep, her eyes struggling to stay open.

"Wheels up in…" Hotch began to say, but a look at Emily's face filled him with sympathy and he surrendered. "Who am I kidding? We'll take off seven tomorrow?" He asked, and everyone agreed.

It took a while for the room to clear out, but when it did it was just him and Emily again. Emily, who was already asleep against her hand softly, emitted a soft snore making Hotch look at her with a small smile on his face; she was so beautiful when she slept. He wished to watch her sleeping forever, but that was not possible, not with the relationship they had. He was her boss, nothing more on a normal day. Luckily, today was hardly a normal day, it had not been normal for some time, especially since he was the only one who knew about the baby. He now found himself checking on her on a daily basis at the office, making sure she had eaten the right food, or any food at all, and he also found himself going to crime scenes with her more often, just to get her away from the rest of the gang's prying eyes. Hotch, as much as he hated and loved it, had to admit, he had been spending a lot of time with Prentiss, far more than he had spent with his son over the past few weeks, but he also was growing to know that Jack, too, was beginning to love Emily. Shaking her shoulder carefully; scared if it was still sore from the last incident, he tried to wake her gently up, not wanting her to head butt him again.

"Prentiss…" He quietly said, hating the fact that he still had to use her last name, but it was at work, professional was his middle name and he was not giving that up, so instead, he was willing to use that name. "Prentiss…" He repeated with a harder shake of the shoulder. Instead of startling the raven-haired woman awake, her eyes just fluttered open to meet his.

"I fell asleep again, didn't I?" She asked, drowsily with a sleepy smirk.

"Yes, you did." Hotch could not help but smirk back and laugh through his nose. "C'mon, let's drive you home." He helped her up.

"God, Hotch, if you carry on driving me home, I might forget how to drive." She teased and Hotch saw her wobble in her sleepy state and his arm instantly went around her waist to hold her up.

"How long have you been awake for?" He asked her and looked into Emily's watery eyes; she had just yawned.

"I don't know." Was the only response she gave him along with a second yawn.

"Prentiss, you were meant to sleep. I kept you at the station so you could go to the hotel and sleep!" His tone raised and Emily was glad they were still in the conference room where no one could hear them.

"Look, Hotch, you keep me at the station, making me feel worthless anyway, so I try to do some more work, but putting all the hours in makes me feel like I am doing something to help!" She matched his volume.

"Emily," he now used her real name, to show her his concern. "The case doesn't need you as much as that baby does, and for as long as you are still working on cases, I need you to put that baby first, because sometimes I may not be there to tell you to get to bed." After an exhausted nod from Emily, he surrendered. "C'mon now, home to bed." A sleepy smile filled her face.

The car journey went silently, but Emily remained awake. Even though her exhaustion was over the limit, she was starving. And every so often her stomach would rumble. This last time, however, Hotch spoke up.

"When was the last time you ate?" He asked, and Emily gave an un-audio able answer. "What, Prentiss?" He asked again.

"I'll eat something when I get in." She informed him, changing her previous answer.

"Like what?" He asked, his speed changing as he almost neared her turning.

"Just some leftovers from the fridge or something fast." And that was all he needed, as he drove past the turning.

"Hotch, where the hell are you going?" She glared at him, now fully awake.

"Back to mine. You can sleep until dinner's done and then you can have some proper food." He told her, and carried on driving.

"I don't need you to look after me, Hotch!" She shouted.

"Well someone needs to!" He carried on driving and the car fell silent again.

Prentiss' hand stayed on her stomach, a saddened look on her face. Had she really been that bad? Not even looking after her own baby. Lost in her thoughts, her eyes began to fall and she fell into a deep sleep once again.

Hotch pulled into his driveway and saw the lights on, he smile slightly and felt relieved that Jack was still awake, and he would be able to tuck him into bed. He also knew, that an argument should not happen, not now, they were all to drained for arguments. Deciding that it was better not to bring Emily into it, he left his car, leaving the heating on and entered the house. The door opened and he felt Jack's eyes on him.

"Daddy!" The little boy shouted and ran from his place at the dinner table into his dad's arms.

"Hey, I came home to tuck you in!" He gave him a small kiss on the cheek, "Go on back to dinner." He said as he felt Jessica near him.

"You're late." Was the first thing she said.

"What are you, my parole officer?" He joked, and Jessica scoffed at him. "Thanks for giving him dinner." He tried to make the conversation slightly more nice.

"Yeah, whatever, it's not my job." She started to say.

"Not your job, Jessica, you're his Aunt, looking after him _is_ your job!" He shouted back, but regretted it soon after. "Look, thanks for feeding him." He opened the door and watched her leave before saying. "We have a case tomorrow morning, so Jack will need picking up from school." He told her, the scold she gave him was un-missable, and even Jack was startled by it.

"D'you want some chicken dinosaur, Daddy?" Jack asked sweetly, with a kind smile.

"No thank you, mister. I'm going to have dinner with a friend today." He saw Jack's eyes light up at the thought of company.

"Who?" He was now teetering at the edge of his seat.

"Well, she's nice… and tall…" Jack's eyes lit up more and more and his smile grew wider.

"Em'ly?" Hotch nodded. "Where is she?" He asked, looking as if he needed to go to the toilet he was bouncing around on his seat that much.

"She's out in the car, but she's asleep because she's very sleepy, so you need to be quiet while I bring her in, alright?" He asked, and Jack nodded. Another kiss to his forehead and Hotch left the house.

Opening the car door was proving to be difficult as Emily had leaned herself against it heavily in her sleep and once he finally managed to pry it open, he had to shift her weight into his arms so her head was on his shoulder. But after that was alright, his hand hooked under her legs and he carefully carried her into the house, locking the car with further difficulty along the way. Jack's face was even brighter as he saw his father carrying Emily into the house and as Hotch carried her upstairs he followed hot on his heels. Carefully, he placed her in the bed and slipped her shoes off with ease, placing her underneath the blanket, he adjusted the pillows slightly. The most adorable moment came when Jack brought his favourite teddy bear in and placed it on the bed next to her. Hotch passed him a confused look.

"Why have you given her your teddy?" He asked, taking off his tie.

"Because I can't sleep without him, I think he should look after Emily tonight." The smile beamed on his son's face, and Hotch's face mirrored his, seeing how sweet he was being.

"Alright then, go downstairs and finish your dinner."

A kiss was placed on his Jack's head as Hotch tucked him in. Frantically, the young boy looked around for his bear, but remembered where it was.

"Do you want me to get him back from my room for you?" Hotch asked, knowing how reliant he was on this bear. Much to his surprise, Jack shook his head.

"Night Daddy. Love you." He smiled. As he saw a shadow in the doorway, his smile got even bigger. "Em'ly!"

"Hey, little man." She entered the room, giving Hotch a sleepy smile. "I felt like someone needed to come home for the night, I think he missed you." She passed the bear back to Jack.

"He did?" Jack asked as he took the bear into his arms and Emily nodded.

"C'mon now, sleep." Hotch said as he switched the main light off. Emily gave Jack a kiss, then the bear before whispering her good nights and leaving before Hotch.

Walking down the stairs she smelled the wonderful dinner, which only made her stomach rumble more. She felt a hand on her back which sent her mind tingling. A smile grew wider on her face as Hotch escorted her to her chair and helped her to sit. He brought over a glass of cold water and then set up her dinner plate with pasta. Before sitting down himself with his dinner. He had to laugh slightly as Emily practically devoured her food with her eyes alone, and within seconds she was eating it all down.

"I'm guessing Baby is very hungry." He commented and smiled at her, and Emily smiled back.

"Sorry. It's a great dinner. Delicious." She commented. Hotch laughed slightly and went back to eating some of his dinner.

"God, I need the bathroom." She looked into his eyes and excused herself to go to the small downstairs toilet. As she stood up, she tugged on part of the table cloth, pulling, and spilling, all of the drinks on the table. Hotch, who stupidly had picked grape juice, cursed. "Sorry, Hotch!" She apologised and handed him a towel. He took it and began dabbing himself dry.

"It's alright, Em. Go to the toilet, I'm just going upstairs to get changed into something else." Nodding, Emily felt herself blush a bright pink shade and to cover it up she just walked into the toilet.

She heard the shower begin to run as she left the bathroom, and found the table still in the same mess as before. Watching for any spilled bits, she walked around the table and began clearing away and fixing the mess she had made. Taking each cup and plate away to the sink and then using a cloth to take the initial dampness away from the table cloth, she then picked that off and threw it into the laundry basket before going over to the sink and washing the dishes. She sat at the table for a while longer, but her eyes began shutting again and she knew she should not sleep there so instead, she lay herself on the couch, and tried to fill her mind with other thoughts to stop herself from sleeping. The first one, of course, was about how long Hotch actually took in the shower. He could shower for the whole of America in that time! But again, she felt her eyes drop and she slowly fell into a light sleep. That's when she heard it, a creak on one of the stairs. But the shower was still running, and Hotch would still be in it. Her hand reached to her side to find her gun, and she held onto it tightly as she peeled open her eyes. Immediately, she relaxed as she saw the littlest Hotchner on the bottom step. Her smile became comforting.

"Hey, little man, what are you doing up?" She asked, quietly and opened her arms to invite him over to the couch with her. "What are you doing up?" She asked, cradling him in her arms as he sat on her.

"I had a nightmare." He told her and Emily could not help but smile.

"Awh, it's okay, do you want to talk about it?" She asked, pulling him in closer.

"The bad guy got daddy, just like he got mommy." Tears welled up in his eyes. Emily gave him a kiss on the cheek and smiled slightly.

"You know the bad guy will never get daddy. Not while I'm here, and not while you're here. I promise." Jack gave a small nod and nestled further into Emily's body. "Do you want me to take you back to bed?" She asked him, but the young boy protested, with a quick head shake. "Alright, just stay here with me then. Daddy's in the shower." She smiled, "Shall we get a DVD or something." She asked and Jack looked into her eyes.

"Monsters Inc. is in the player already!" He said excited and looking at her as if she was silly.

"Alright then." Emily reached over to the table and grabbed the remote before moving to make herself and Jack comfortable, she turned the TV on and then pressed play.

Hotch finally left the shower and walked into his bedroom, he hoped to see that Emily had fallen back asleep on his bed, but, much to his dismay, she was not there. Hotch knew he would not be amused if he found her asleep on the uncomfortable couch. An even quieter noise warmed him into the room and he saw the TV playing Monsters Inc. He knew the film must have only been ten minutes in. Smiling, he walked around the couch and saw Prentiss and Jack cuddled up on the couch. Emily's arms wrapped around Jack in a way to form a blanket of warmth around him. The smile grew wider as he attempted to detach his son from Emily, when he finally managed to, he carried him upstairs and settled him back down in the bed. Coming back down the stairs, he sighed; there was no way he could leave Emily sleeping there, but she also looked so peaceful. Gently, he shook her shoulder with one hand and turned the TV off with the other.

"Em." He crouched down to her level and shook her shoulder again, he watched as her eyes fluttered open and she searched around for Jack in a flurry. "Sshh, he's in bed, I took him back to bed." Emily nodded.

"Alright, I'm gonna go call a taxi to take me home." She began to stand up but Hotch stopped her.

"No, do not be stupid, Emily. Go up to my bed, sleep there." He instructed, not really giving her an option.

"But I have no clothes or anything." She looked at him.

"I am certain your go bag will have some." He said and fetched his keys from the kitchen to go and open the car.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that!" She smiled and watched from the doorway as he brought her go bag in. The cold night air had surely woken her up, but probably only for a moment. Taking the bag and looking through it on the couch. Finding a set of plain blue bottoms and a white top, she decided that that would be fine, it would be the first time she had ever wore them anyway as they never really slept while on an away case… Hotch was soon about to change that too. "These are fine." She smiled slightly.

"There you go then. Goodnight Agent Prentiss." As she walked up the stairs, the pyjamas in her hand, she glared at him.

"None of that, Sir." He glared back at her, and laughed slightly. Both of them had kicked their habit of calling each other Agent Prentiss and Sir. Originally, Hotch had to kick the habit of calling her Prentiss, but that was taking a little longer, so she was happy with this for now.

Hotch found himself, at three in the morning, checking on his son. He never normally did this, probably because he was fast asleep, but tonight, he felt the need to check on his son… and if he happened to check on Emily while he was there, then that was just meant to be. And, of course, he managed to peel open his bedroom door, little enough to not let in too much light and disturb Prentiss, but enough for him to see she was fine. One hand rested against her stomach, the other on top of the blanket. Her brow was creased in frustration, and she made a move in her bed that looked like she was in distress, Hotch knew in that moment, that Emily had been plagued by the same thing his son had been; nightmares. Hotch learned that after last time, waking a sleeping Emily was never a good idea, let alone one thrashing around from nightmares, but he fought against what his head was telling him and walked further into the bedroom, closing the door so that they did not disturb Jack. He switched the bed side lamp on so that he could see what Emily was doing before, forcefully, waking her up, knowing fully well that gently was just not going to work tonight.

"Emily, wake the hell up." He found himself meeting her shakes and forcefully making them ten times harder and soon after, he saw her eyes shoot open, and she clung to his hand in fear. Hotch could feel her hand trembling underneath his. "It's okay, calm down." His other hand smoothed down her hair comfortingly.

"Hotch?" She asked wearily.

"Sshh, it's okay." He sat down on the opposite side of the bed, as he did he felt Emily move closer to him in fear, her body still shaking from fear. Hotch looked down to see her eyes staring into the black corner of the room as if something was about to walk out of it. "Do you want to talk about it?" He asked, knowing it was a stupid question that Emily was never going to answer to. True to his thoughts, she shook her head, but, what shocked him the most was what she did next.

"Just stay here, please." To Hotch that was a cry for help in it's own way; he knew Emily would never admit to fear or weakness and this was a drastic thing if she was terrified by it. Doing the unprofessional thing, he wrapped his arms tighter around her and tucked the blanket over them.

"I'm not going anywhere." He told her.


	4. A Little Convincing

**Author's Note:** Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, subscribed, alerted etc. It really means a lot to me.

This chapter is only short and I apologise for that as it is just a filler, but I dedicate it to all of you.

**Chapter 4: A Little Convincing**

Her pen was barely writing ten words per minute. Her eyes kept dropping, but she would not allow them to close. Not yet. She needed to do her work, she needed to finish it. She was determined to finish it.

Watching in concern through his office window, Hotch saw as she tried to force herself to stay awake. He wondered why the hell she was still in work at four in the morning, and blamed himself for not forcing her to go home at home time. He understood why he was still there, the paperwork on his desk was almost overflowing before he started, and finally he had worked it down to a small pile. But Prentiss, she was meant to be looking after herself, after her baby, why on earth was she still here? After watching her slow movements for another minute or two, he left his desk and went to his office door. Noticing people down in the bull-pen, he tried to act as professional as possible.

"Agent Prentiss." His forceful words shook her awake, and he could see he startled her as she jumped slightly, turning to look at him with worry. He felt slightly bad but did not show it as he re-entered his office, pulling the drawstring on he blinds to close them away from any unwanted prying eyes. "Door." He tried to keep the act of boss up for another minute or two, but watched in worry as she closed the wooden door and leant her hand against the door handle in exhaustion. As she wobbled slightly going towards the chair, he raced to her side. "C'mon, couch." He told her, and helped her over to the comfortable couch in the side of his room. "Emily, what the hell are you still doing here?" He asked, all professionalism going out the window now. He looked in her watery eyes and Emily could tell he was far from annoyed with her, but she could also see the slight concern in the back of his eyes that she knew Hotch was trying his best to hide.

"I was trying to get some work done, Hotch." She informed him. Her words slightly slurred with exhaustion.

"Prentiss, you're overworking yourself, you need to take it easy and get some sleep for both you and the baby!" He looked exasperated with her.

"I know Hotch, but I come into work late because I over sleep and then throw up for an hour or two, I spend lunch time sleeping, and then I take a nap part way. I'm just trying to do the same amount I have been doing all along!" She shouted.

"Emily, when are you going to learn, you can't do that much anymore. And if you are really struggling just drop the files off with me, I have no problem taking some off of your hands!" He sighed.

"I know, but, Morgan, Rossi, even Reid, I can see they all thing I'm just being lazy, either that or I'm on drugs. You've taken me off dangerous field work, I disappear for hours on end into your office to sleep. I just don't think I can cope with their suspicious looks anymore, Hotch." Her voice cracked as she started to cry, both out of frustration, hormones and exhaustion.

"I know, sshh, it's alright, just lie down and sleep, okay. Don't worry about a thing." He watched as she lay her aching body down on the couch and within a second her eyes shut and her breathing slowed down. Walking over to his drawer, he pulled out a small blanket that he had kept for days or nights like these, and placed it over her, hoping for the thin material to provide her a little bit of warmth. He sighed slightly and went back to his pile of files on his desk, guessing he would not make it home to take Jack to school anyway, he left the office quietly and walked over to Prentiss' desk, taking the files off of the desk, he took them into his office and started doing her work, slightly happy to see her peacefully sleeping on the couch.

The sun slowly began to rise, and a soft bit of sunlight started to come into the office. Hotch finished yet another cup of coffee whilst doing one of the few files now left of Prentiss' when his office door opened. A shocked JJ stood in the doorway.

"Wow, Hotch, sorry, I didn't think you'd be in here." She apologised quickly and looked down at the file in her hands.

"It's fine JJ, what did you need?" He asked, regretting it as her frantic answer came out quite loud.

"Well, I was wondering if you would look at these two files and…" He cut her short as he pressed a finger to his lips to tell her to be quiet, and nodded towards the sleeping Emily. JJ, in surprise turned to look at Emily then back at Hotch. "Does she ever go home?" She asked, knowing, much more than the boys did, about her late night stays and early morning retreats. Hotch gave her a simple shrug.

"She's just been working so hard." He told her and JJ nodded, agreeing, "But she's been working harder thinking that Morgan, Rossi and Reid all think she's being lazy and sleeping half the day away." He told JJ who nodded in understanding.

"I'll tell them to lay off." So told Hotch and he gave her a thankful look. "No problem, but for now, will you…" She looked down at the files and he put his hand out to take the files and look over them.

As more sun filled the office and the need to have the overhead light disappeared, he decided it would be best to wake Emily before any other team members got in. He had already saw JJ before, and only an hour ago had he saw Rossi walking into his office. Going over to her, he felt really bad all of a sudden for having to wake her up. He always hated waking her up when she had only a few hours sleep but he knew it was necessary to talk to her before the team got in.

"Emily. Wake up." He shook her gently, as always; this had now became a routine for him. Her eyes fluttered open and she met his eyes, squinting slightly at the sunlight.

"What time is it?" She asked, wearily.

"It's about half seven, Em. You've only been asleep for a few hours." He informed her. Emily looked at him as if he were stupid. She was sure she knew she had only been asleep for a few hours by the still heavy exhaustion in her eyes. Cautiously, she sat up, unsure if morning sickness was even possible if you had not really slept the whole night, but as her stomach remained unturned, she guessed not. "Em, I really have to talk to you." He said, in a more serious tone, but not his professional boss tone, just a friendly, concerned, tone. Her eyes looked up to meet his, waiting for him to continue. "Prentiss, we need to figure something out to cut down your work hours or something." He told her and Emily shook her head really quickly.

"No, Hotch, I am coping fine." She tried to tell him.

"Emily, you fall asleep on my couch everyday! It's not right, and JJ and everyone are picking up on it!" His words were not really going anywhere in the way to convince her to take more time off, it only made her want to do more work.

"Fine, Hotch, I will just stop coming up here, just leave me the hell alone to do my work!" She stood up.

"No, Prentiss, I am telling you as your boss now, you need to do something to take some work load off of yourself!" He ordered.

"No, Hotch, if I do that, people will find out!" She shouted back.

"People are going to find out soon, Prentiss, you're four months pregnant, there is no more hiding it." He said more quietly so someone did not over hear them.

"Just a little longer and I will tell everyone, I haven't really got the idea around my head yet." She tried to beg, but Hotch was having none of it.

"Prentiss, at least tell JJ, she will understand, she can help you. Or Rossi even, that way there is more than one person protecting you and looking out for you on the team." She looked down at her hands, fumbling with nervousness.

"I'll think about it, Hotch. Can we just let it lie for a moment? I still haven't fully woken up yet, and I'm a little more unsure if I am going to throw up yet." A surrendering nod left Hotch and Emily back in silence, Hotch watching carefully to see if she was about to throw up. He hoped not. Against his wish, Emily lunged forward for a trash can only a moment or two later, and started retching and Hotch groaned; this was going to be one hell of a long day.


	5. Sometimes I Need Some Help

**Chapter 5: Sometimes I Need Some Help**

The rest of the day went hassle free, except for the short argument she had with Hotch over him doing the majority of her files, but other than that, everything was seemingly easier today, thank God, because her exhaustion from the lack of sleep from last night was starting to sink in and as it neared lunch time, she felt the effects go crazy with her. Taking an early lunch, Morgan asked if there was anything Emily needed and of course, she said no. It was only three minutes later, once Reid had gone to get a coffee and Garcia was happy in her office, that JJ walked towards Emily's desk. She dropped a subtle note on her desk and carried on breezing past, making Emily smile with amusement at her effort. It was not like she needed to do that anyway, but she picked the note up and read it: _Em, will you come up to my office please, it's important. JJ. Xx_ She found the note ever so amusing from the way she had put both names on the note, as if Emily had not already picked up on who it was too and who it was from. But her amusement passed as she stood up from her desk and walked towards JJ's office, worried that something might be wrong with the younger blonde. But much to her dismay, it was quite the opposite.

"Hey, I guess you got my note." Was how JJ greeted her.

"Well, it was hard to miss considering how 'discreetly' you dropped it on my desk." Both smirked slightly and Emily closed the door, going over to sit on the chair by JJ's desk. "So, what's wrong?" She asked, thankful to have someone else's problem in her lap for just a short moment or two. At least it would make her forget what Hotch said this morning.

"Actually…" Emily did not like the sound of the way this was going, "I was going to ask you that." Nope, she did not like this one bit. Her eyes locked back down at her desk in the bull-pen, wishing to be there, hoping, if she stared long enough, to just magically be back at her desk, asleep, hoping this to be a nightmare. But, the blinds shut, cutting off her vision and her eyes locked with a now standing JJ. Apparently, Emily was so engrossed in trying to mentally escape, that she had missed the blonde moving all the way around the room to shut the blinds. She crouched down, to the floor in front of Emily's chair, obstructing the clear view she had, where she was previously looking down at the floor. "Come on, Em. You get sick at work, you pass out, you are sleeping nearly every day and you keep staying late. I don't blame the guys for thinking something is going on with you. All of that combined with no field work is kind of suspicious. Just talk to me…" JJ's puppy dog eyes finally met with Emily's and she knew there was no way out.

"You really want to know what is going on with me?" She asked, taking a deep breath as JJ only nodded, as to not interrupt her words. Emily knew it was bad to lie to the female. Even if she was not a profiler, her job still required some skills and Emily hated to think what she had profiled about her in the past. That combined with the experience of her already having a child, she knew JJ would figure it out. _Better sooner than later_, she thought. "I'm pregnant." She said, in a flurry, her eyes not meeting JJ's for a moment or two while the blonde stayed unresponsive. Then she heard movement in the room, but no words were passed. Suddenly, she jumped but settled as she felt JJ's arms wrap around hers and hold her in a tight hug.

"Emily, that's amazing! You're going to be a mom!" She smiled happily before letting her go and sitting back in her seat. "How far along are you?" Emily had to admit right now that telling the blonde mother was far better than when Hotch found out, because, not only did her have that motherly touch, but she also had experience behind her and she was finally able to talk to someone who knew what she was going on about.

"Almost four months." She told her and JJ seemed shocked.

"That far along and you aren't even showing?" Emily blushed slightly and looked down.

"Only a little bump, not really to visible. It's easily hid under a loose top and just a size bigger pants." She confessed, and she saw JJ's eyes light up. "No, no touching, please, no touching." It was too late, the second she began protesting, JJ flew from her chair and her hands were on Emily's stomach, well, bump, a wide smile on her face.

"Awh! Hello baby Prentiss. I'm your Auntie JJ!" She began talking and Emily took all of her might to push her away.

"Stop talking to it, weirdo." She teased and JJ pulled a tongue at her.

"You can't call the baby an it! She or he will hear you!" She teased and Emily pulled a tongue back at her. "So, any clues as to who the father is? I'm guessing Hotch is out of the question." She said and Emily looked shocked.

"No, Hotch is not the father, but he has stuck by me ever since I told him, I think it was because he was the only one that knew, but he can stop all of that now I'm probably going to have you checking on me every hour or so." She joked.

"Oh, every half hour." JJ joked back and smiled, noticing her avoidance in telling her who the real father was, she moved on. "So, any ideas on names?" A shake of the head made her look shocked. "Started the nursery?" She asked another question and seeing Emily shake her head each time made her feel a little more like helping her. "Fine, it's settled then, this weekend we will go shopping for some baby things." She decided.

"Come on, JJ, we don't need to get any of that yet. It's not even a visible bump yet."

"It's not an option, Emily. From what I am guessing, someone needs to spoil this baby, and that job is me, besides, you and Pen spoiled Henry before he was even born!" She smiled at her, and Emily was still looking away from her eyes. "Now, don't you think we better get telling the team?" Her question made Emily meet her eyes.

"No! Please, JJ, you can't tell anyone that I'm pregnant. I did not want anyone else to know!" But despite her wishes, Rossi stood at the other side of the door and overheard them talking.

"Prentiss?" He opened the door and looked at her, "You're pregnant?" He asked, a smile slowly growing on her face. Emily knew there was no way out, but she figured she would give it a shot.

"No?" It sounded like a question even to her.

"Congratulations!" He hugged her and smiled widely.

"Yeah, thanks." She looked down at the floor again, not seeming too happy about it, Rossi understood why, but JJ did not. "Please, Dave, you can't tell anyone." She gave him pleading eyes and Rossi nodded, understanding.

"Of course I would not." He gave her a small smile.

"Good, now can I please get the hell back to work?" She asked, with pleading eyes at JJ this time.

"Nope." Was her answer. "I saw you asleep on Hotch's couch this morning, and you were still working when I left at one! You really need to go home and sleep." Emily was growing tired of people telling her what to do, first Hotch, now JJ.

"I'm fine, JJ, not sleepy at all!" She lied, her eyes giving away the lie as the bags hung under it. Now Rossi stepped in and told her what to do.

"No! Go and get your things, I'm going to drive you home." Emily groaned, at least if it was JJ saying it, she could have gotten away with just telling her she was fine, it's not like JJ had any hold over her. But Rossi on the other hand, can and will force her to go home. Begrudgingly, she stood up and went to pack everything on her desk away while JJ and Rossi chatted.

"Apparently Hotch knows." JJ told Rossi.

"Yeah." He seemed more distant.

"She does not seem to pleased about it." JJ sighed.

"Yeah, maybe…" JJ clicked on that something was being kept secret between the two of them.

"What do you know?" She asked, and Rossi shook his head.

"It doesn't matter. If Em doesn't find it important to tell you, it is not my place to say." JJ groaned, it's going to be hard to get information from him.

"Fine, you better go tell Hotch you're taking her home." He nodded and said 'thanks' before going over to Hotch's office. He knocked hard which told Hotch it was one of the men on the team.

"Come in." He said, and attempted to tear his eyes away from his work.

"Hey, Hotch, I'm going to drive Em home." He told Hotch and Hotch looked shocked.

"What?" He was not really sure of what had gone on.

"We know she's pregnant, Hotch, she just told me and JJ. Well, she told JJ, I over heard." Hotch nodded.

"Make sure she gets in alright, you know, make sure the house is secured." Rossi laughed.

"Alright, Hotch. I'll be back soon." He left the room and saw Emily waiting at the bottom with her briefcase of things. Immediately, Rossi reached for the case. "You should not be carrying that." He took it from her.

"I'm going to regret ever telling you." she grumbled and looked around to see if anyone was watching them.

"Ah, but you didn't tell me, I just have excellent snooping skills." He smirked.

"Yeah, big head, but you didn't find out for a month or two." She smirked back.

"So what, I'm not a pregnancy detector, but I am still an excellent snoop." He pulled a tongue at her.

"Prove it." She teased him.

"Here." For a moment he stayed still before pulling some case files out of her briefcase. "They stay at work, you go home to sleep. The two don't mix." He dumped he files she had discreetly packed back on her desk and began to walk away. "Coming Madame?" He winked and Emily had to smile back.

The drive went in silence, and Emily was grateful for it but less than five minutes away from her home, Rossi began to speak as they sat at a red light.

"How are you dealing with it?" He asked, kindly. As much as Emily had been happy to be able to speak to JJ earlier because she had experience, she was somehow pleased that she could talk to Rossi. He was the only living man who knew about the abortion and she was going to keep it that way. But, at least she can open up to him.

"With what?" She tried to play the dumb card.

"Don't play stupid. The baby, abortion, becoming a mother. Everything really." The light went green and he started to drive as she answered.

"I was scared at first, terrified. Unsure if this was just a punishment for the abortion. Maybe someone was trying to show me what I could have had and then they would take it away again." She looked at her shaky hands.

"So you kept it to yourself?" He asked.

"Yeah, I didn't want anyone knowing if I did lose the baby." She still would not meet his few glances.

"What made you tell Hotch then?" He seemed curious.

"It was Edd Harding's case." She told him.

"The case where you were sent undercover?" He asked, already knowing the answer. "Oh, Em, I'm so sorry!" He apologised, "We never would have sent you if we knew."

"I know, calm down, we both were fine, but it was too close for comfort for me, I had to tell Hotch." Dave gave a nod of understanding.

"No one will take that baby from you, remember that." He assured her as they drove into her driveway. "Give it the love and care I know you will give it, and I'm sure you will be fine. And if you need help, we're all here. Even the others, although they don't know it yet." He laughed slightly and stopped the car.

"Thanks, Dave." She gave him a genuine smile before leaving the car, and Dave followed her. "You don't have to make sure I come in and go to sleep, I promise." She smiled again.

"I know, but Hotch would freak if he found out I let you go in alone, and did not 'secure the parameter'." They both laughed and Emily unlocked the door to the hallway. Walking up the stairs, she seemed to be getting slower and slower as exhaustion set in, and Dave had already taken her bag a few sets of stairs ago. "Told you we should have gotten the lift." He quirked.

"I'm not an invalid." She told him.

"I know, but you're exhausted, and we still have another two flights of stairs." He groaned, and stayed one step behind her, ready to catch her if she fell. But, she never did and relief took over both of them as they reached the top of the stairs.

"I thought that it was never going to end." Emily joked as she fumbled around with her key for a moment.

"You and me, both." Rossi laughed back.

The weekend rolled by with ease and no one seemed to care about Emily's lunchtime disappearances into one of the three offices. But, it was harder to hide from the three agents as everywhere she went, she felt their eyes on her. True to her word, JJ showed up at her door at ten on that Saturday morning, a smile on her face. Emily looked far from happy, she really did not want to do the whole shopping trip thing.

"Why is it necessary for us to do this, JJ?" She asked, finally seated in the car.

"It's necessary because your baby will be coming into the world in almost five months and you have nothing set up and nothing brought." Emily huffed as they came to a stop outside Mother Care. "Here we are." JJ smiled at her, and both left the car, Emily not sure if she would ever return.

Looking through some of the things, she had to admit that a few things were absolutely adorable. But, she did not give any input, she just let JJ have her say and followed her around as she took a note of everything they needed. God, this list was going to be expensive. She found herself over by a bookshelf, where there were a few chairs and, happy for the seat, she took a book and sat down. She did not pay attention to any of the words she was reading, it all sounded like gibberish to her, and her eyes soon found JJ's as the blonde walked over to her.

"So, we can't leave without buying something for the baby, anything you found interesting yet?" She asked, and Emily sighed, she knew she had to buy something, and JJ did no specify what.

"Actually, I found a really cute teddy back there, I think it will be perfect for now. Just for the time being." JJ nodded.

"Alright then, go and pick it up." She watched Emily walk away, and found herself sneakily buying the cutest unisex baby vest set for the baby in the time it too Emily to return. "Found it?" She asked, smiling widely at the medium sized giraffe teddy bear, that Emily seemed to be sub consciously stroking with her thumb.

"Mmm hmm." She looked back down, the teddy reminding her of one she had when she was a child. She hoped her baby would love it.

"Alright then, come on." The winding string of wire separating the cue from the till seemed to take forever for her to wind around, but eventually, they were both leaving the shop, each with a bag. "So, did you find something nice for Henry?" Emily asked with a smile, her hand still in the bag somewhere, stroking the soft toy.

"Actually…" JJ's words drifted off and Emily realised what she had done.

"Oh, no, JJ." She sighed. "What did you get?" She finally asked, climbing in the car, JJ handed her the bag and Emily pulled the back of vests out. Each were cream/white with a beige lining on the neck with a selection of jungle animals on one: Elephant, giraffe and lion. On the other four vest sat each animal individually and then a plain vest without an image. Much to what she wanted to say, Emily loved them.

"Thank you, JJ. They're adorable." She gave her a smile and handed them back to her along with her own bag and JJ put them on the back seat.

"I know. I can't wait to see my little niece/nephew in them! They're going to look so cute." She sounded excited, more excited than Emily had ever been over this pregnancy.

"You sound like you're more into this pregnancy than me!" She joked, well, half joked.

"I know, what's stopping you from being happy about it? Maybe I can help?" She looked at her and Emily shook her head.

"Nothing, besides, I think I am slowly beginning to get into it myself. But, obviously, I'm anxious." She confessed.

"It's to be expected. Now, shall we go for lunch?" She asked and Emily nodded.

"I'm starved!" The both laughed and JJ began driving away.

Halfway though their lunchtime, and JJ got a phone call, which she decided to take outside. Emily, of course, knew this meant that they had a case and for some strange reason she seemed to be secretly happy over having something to take her away from the next six shops JJ had planned. Standing up, she tidied their table away, and gave a thanks to the person that helped her, before taking hers and JJ's things outside. In the black SUV, she found JJ still on the phone, looking exasperated.

"Alright, we will be in in a moment." Emily could hear her say, and she walked over at a pace when she saw her about to leave the car.

"I'm here. Case?" She asked, already knowing the answer and she climbed into the passenger side of the car. "Do you want me to call everyone else in?" Emily asked, and JJ nodded with a slight 'thanks'.

Boarding the jet, Emily immediately went to her normal seat. She felt a set of eyes on her, and she looked up. The majority of people on the plane were looking through the case file, all except Rossi, who, when she caught his look, gave her a small smile which she returned. As the plane began taking off, Emily held strongly to the sides of her seat, so tightly her knuckles were white. But not out of fear, she was quite good when it came to flying, but because her stomach tightened in a sickening way and not only was she not over her morning sickness fully, she had also spent that morning coughing from time to time and she knew she was getting sick. Knowingly, her lips pressed into a thin line, stopping all fluids from leaving her mouth. As the take off began to level out a little more, she opened her eyes to find the same man as before watching her in concern. He mouthed to her:

"Are you alright?" And both of his eyebrows creased into a concerned look, until she gave him an honest nod and his attention lingered on her for a moment, making sure she was telling the truth, figuring she was, he turned back to the case file, which Emily did the same once her stomach settled.

Unfortunately, the case had taken a bad turn and it seemed that the only way to catch the unsub was to use bait. Someone to find any form of clue that would be evidence to use against him. Another downside was that, only one person fitted the profile. Emily stood at the back of the small room in the police station, her back to the wall, arms crossed over her chest in a defensive way. Her head always down towards the floor. She looked completely venerable. Next to her stood JJ, who was slightly more forward than her, and she looked extremely protective of her, and right in front of her was David Rossi, hiding her away from the other members, trying his best to worm her way out.

"Hotch, you and I both know she is the only one that can do this!" Morgan went back round in a circle to the same argument that had been going on for the past twenty minutes.

"No, Morgan, she is not going undercover! We will find an alternative!" He met Morgan's harsh tone.

"There is no alternative, we've spoken to Reid and you know there isn't one, Hotch. I wouldn't suggest this if it weren't the last thing we could do!" Morgan shouted, once again. Now Rossi piped in, which Emily hoped he would not do as all eyes were now facing her way.

"Morgan, there will be another way, we can't just send her down there, blind. Anything could happen!" He now shouted.

"Rossi, we do not have time to find another way, someone might… no WILL die if we leave it any longer!" He shouted back. Then everything went silent, or at least Emily thought it did, as she became lost in her own thoughts. Someone would die, and more people possibly after that. She had a massive decision now. Save one… two… possibly three women, or her own child?

"I'll do it." She finally spoke up, and realised that they had indeed been shouting all of that time. But, even through all of the shouts, they all heard her, and everything went silent. She felt five sets of eyes boar into her skin like silver daggers.

"Don't be stupid." Came JJ's response. The first response.

"She's right, you can't go in there." Rossi now said.

"We will find another way, Prentiss." Hotch now spoke up, but her mind was already made and before anyone could do anything, she left the room to go and 'save the day'. All of them followed after her and finally caught up with her in the main police station.

"Prentiss… Stop." Hotch said, and she stopped and turned hot on her heels to face him. Both groups were split. Reid and Morgan were standing behind Emily as if on her team and the rest on Hotch's side. All of their minds ticked, thinking of something to say. And Rossi knew just what that one thing was, and Emily hated him for it.

"Emily, you cannot go running into an unsub. Not even to save some people's lives, you have got to start thinking about yourself, and about the baby you are carrying." She felt the room go silent and all eyes fall on her. God this was embarrassing.


	6. Just Run Away

**Chapter 6: Just Run Away**

The silence became too much and she could not bear it, all eyes lay on her and she just wanted someone to say something. She looked forward in a thought process of running away again, but Morgan still stood there. She decided to speak up, knowing that in the state she was in, a scene was bound to be caused.

"Let me do my job." She spoke finally. Admittedly, it did not come out as harsh as she thought it would have.

"No, Princess, you aren't going anywhere." She looked down, hiding the small smile, she had missed being called 'Princess'. Actually, she had missed any interaction with Morgan at all.

"Why? It's not like you were complaining before!" Her voice raised. "And, as you also said, there is no other way of catching this Son Of A Bitch." Each of her words were spoken with spite and a backlash to him.

"Well everything's changed now, and we will find another way to catch him, no matter what!" Morgan glared at her, and made the ever wrong mistake of shifting his weight over to his right foot, allowing Emily access to leave, and she took it and ran. Of course, four of the five other team members began to go after her, but Hotch stopped them.

"She is not that stupid, leave her." All eyes came to him looking as if he were stupid, but they all knew it was the truth.

"Guess so." Morgan sighed, and his phone rang in his pocket, he took the call. "Baby Girl, please say you have something to add hope to this day." He begged.

"You know I do, but what day would that be, Sweetness?" She asked, typing could be heard in the background. Morgan walked away and took the call back in the small room when the station got loud again, and he put her on speaker.

"I will tell you later, just give us a lead, please." Garcia could hear he was desperate so she gave him the information he begged for.

She wondered around, which was never a good idea when you're a woman, alone, pregnant, in a different state, and it is slowly going dark. But Emily knew how to hold her own and she felt quite safe. The park she was walking around was quite empty and the gun on her hip added more security. Unfortunately for her, the cold had started to hit her body and Goosebumps had appeared on her arms and she was shivering slightly, but there was no way she was going to return to the police station, no way in hell; she could not deal with the explanation tonight, and she hoped that by putting it off, someone else had informed them, but she felt her phone ringing in her pocket and she reluctantly answered it seeing the caller ID as JJ.

"Prentiss." She said, in a cold tone.

"God, where the hell are you?" She asked, annoyance evident in her voice.

"Just walking, don't worry, I did not try to find the unsub." She joked.

"Alright, well the guys are going over there now anyway, Garcia got a lead." JJ informed her.

"Ah, good." Emily still sounded distant.

"You should come back to the station, it's all calmed down now anyway." A sigh was sent from Emily to JJ.

"I think I'm going to walk for a while." she ignored the protests and hung up. Walking more and more around the park's pond, leaves rustling around her. Even though she did no know the area, she felt quite safe even if she was slightly lost. But it seemed to pay off, as she got to another gate at the park, she was greeted by the very hotel they were staying in, and her aching body just begged for bed so she succumbed and checked in.

JJ panicked and called Emily for the millionth time.

"No answer?" Rossi asked from behind her and JJ just shook her head.

"She said she was going to walk for a while, what if someone's got her?" She panicked now, taking the phone from her ear and putting it on the table, she paced backwards and forwards.

"She is fine, JJ, Emily can protect herself." Dave tried to reassure her, and JJ gave a small nod. "How about we go back to the hotel, and you can sleep and we will go out and try to find her?" He knew JJ would want to help, so instead he gave her no option. "No, you are going back to the hotel. C'mon."

Hotch, Morgan and Reid all looked around the place, thinking of anywhere Emily could have gotten in that time, which, to be honest, was quite a long way away, but the guys all had cars. JJ, on the other hand was outside her hotel room, protesting that Rossi needed help.

"C'mon, just let me go and look for her, besides, it's not like I'm sleepy now, I just want to make sure she's okay." She reasoned with him, and Rossi had to admit that they could do with the help.

"Fine, let's just go and check, see if she's taken her bag or anything." He suggested and JJ nodded. She slid the card in the door and it beeped and flashed a green colour before she opened the door and switched the light on.

"JJ, what the hell?" Both agents looked shocked to find Emily, groggily, turning over to look at them, it was now obvious that she had been asleep. Rossi let out a small smile and relieved breath.

"I'll be back." He told them and walked back into the hallway, his phone out in his hand. "Hotch, yeah, we've found her… Asleep, in the hotel room. Yeah. Call the rest of the team. Alright, night." Re-entering the room, he found Emily and JJ sitting on the bed, Emily with an amused look on her face.

"What did Hotch say?" JJ asked, a smirk also on her face.

"Just that we probably should have checked here first and that he will get the team back soon." He smiled.

"Alright." JJ looked at Emily and gave her a small smile, "They got the killer, but Hotch figured we should rest and get the plane in the morning. After we found you of course." Emily rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about before, Em, I just didn't know another way to stop you from going." He reasoned with her and Emily nodded.

"I know and thanks." The small smile she passed him was not missed by JJ.

"Maybe you should sleep, yeah. It'll only take me a second to change anyway."

"Alright, remember, just call, I'm down the hall." Rossi gave a nod to JJ as she went to the bathroom to get changed before looking at Emily and giving her an awkward smile.

"I really do understand why you did it, Rossi. Thanks." His eyes showed surprise and then a smile grew on his face as she yawned.

"Now get back in bed and sleep, you have yourself and that baby to look after." He gave her a reassuring smile. "Good night, Em, and goodnight little one!" The door shut and Emily cursed slightly, realising she had fallen asleep in her work clothes. She stood up and went over to her go bag finding a green pair of bottoms and a clean white top, she knew JJ might be a while and quickly got herself changed. Pulling the top over her head, she rolled it over her bra, and her hand lingered slightly as it reached her stomach. Her baby was in there. She could barely believe it. She smiled softly, realising that her bump was now slightly visible to those who knew, and she thanked Rossi mentally for telling everyone, because lying about that obvious thing was going to be hell. She had became so engrossed in her newly found bump, that she had not saw JJ leave the bathroom until she heard the woman's soft 'awh's'. Her hand snapped away, and she looked up at JJ as if she was a deer caught in the headlights.

"You don't have to be ashamed, Em. It's quite adorable anyway." She gave her a small smile. "Besides, it's adorable when your bump is that small, wait until it is massive!" Emily laughed slightly, but her hand stayed far away from her stomach. "I also managed to bring this, from the car for you." After a second of searching, and a rustling bag, JJ pulled the teddy bear from before out of her go-bag and handed it to Emily, who's eyes slightly lit up.

"Thanks, you didn't have to bring that anyway." She took the bear and smiled slightly.

"I know, but you seemed so attached." She teased back and Emily smiled bigger at her in amusement. "Now get to sleep, I don't want my little niece or nephew to be stressed!" She waited a moment while Emily climbed and got herself comfortable in the bed before turning the light off and feeling her way to her own bed.

"Night." Emily quietly mumbled and hugged the giraffe to her stomach as she rolled and turned away from JJ's own bed just as the blonde also mumble her goodnight.

Emily was unsure what had happened, but she knew she was being woken from the best sleep she had had in a few weeks by a familiar shaking of her shoulder. Her smile came first, then her eyes opened to see his; how she missed those eyes. Ever since she had told JJ and Rossi, she had barely seen Hotch. No late night drives home or stays on his office couch. She guessed telling the others was just the end off of a massive weight on his shoulders.

"Hotch?" She asked, just to confirm it was him.

"Hi." He said, coldly… well, more of in a rush. "You and JJ overslept, I was going to wake you up slightly earlier, but I figured you would just want to go to the jet in your pyjamas." She opened her mouth to protest something about getting changed for work. "No, you are having the day off to rest after this case, whether you like it or not. And yes, before you ask, this will now be a regular occurrence." He informed her, and Emily sat up groggily. "Also, nice giraffe." He flashed her his dimples.

"Oh, yeah." Both of her cheeks turned a shade of red as she fumbled with the teddy. "I got it when JJ took me baby shopping, I figured it could do with something to cuddle, or sleep on, depending if I ever get a cot." She smiled slightly.

"You know what would have been better would to give 'it' a name. Calling the baby 'It' is just a bit too distant, and also reminds me of Stephen King." He shuddered as if having a horrible memory of the book.

"I'll think about it." She looked amused and left the bed, packing everything away in her go-bag. Hotch did not know where to put his eyes when she suddenly took her bottoms off to reveal a pair of short style knickers. Of course, he thought she looked amazing in them, but out of respect he looked to the doorway until she put her work pants back on.

"Prentiss, what the hell are you doing?" It took Emily a second or two to figure out what he was on about… the sudden flashing of her knickers or getting into her work clothes? She figured he meant both, but probably was asking about the work clothes considering he was too much of a prude to mention the other thing.

"I am getting into my clothes, what the hell does it look like, Hotch?" She watched as he turned away again when she changed her top.

"I told you, you're having the day off." He repeated himself.

"No I'm not." Emily protested.

"Prentiss, it's four in the morning, and I have woken you up. There is no way in hell I am letting you, wide awake or exhausted, come into work, and now the whole team knows, I know they will not let you be there either." He now turned back and looked her dead in the eyes.

"I'll catch the few hours sleep on the flight back, I've been asleep since nine, Hotch, I am pretty sure a few more hours and I would be well rested." She tried again to convince him.

"No, and that's final, Prentiss." He groaned and left the bed, picking up her go-bag, he turned back to her. "Is that everything packed?" He asked and Emily looked around to see if everything was, the only thing left out was the giraffe, which she took advantage of by throwing the giraffe at Hotch, who, obviously, was hit in the torso with it and it fell to the floor. Bending down to pick it up, he put the bag on the bed and packed the bear inside it. "You stay here and tell JJ we're down in the lobby. See you in a few." He once again gave her a flash of those addictive dimples before leaving the room with her bag in his hand. Emily, too, smiled and sighed slightly; she could start to get used to this.

The jet was quiet, and Emily knew exactly why. The rest of the group seemed to sit in silence as she was asleep. Well, they thought she was. Emily, on the other hand, was wide awake, she just had her eyes closed, pretending. She felt something cover her up, a soft blanket or something, and a lingering hand on her arm.

"Night." She head the quietest voice of Aaron Hotchner, and she longed to smile, but knew it would give her away so she carried on with the faking, not wanting to have to talk to any of the team. After a while, quiet mumblings started to cloud in her mind, not that she could separate one from the other and it became evident after another minute or two as she began to fall back asleep.

She was quite relieved when she realised that Hotch had left her to drive back to the BAU with Rossi and JJ, but, of course, they tried to convince her to go home, which, obviously, she never did. Now, she walked into the bull-pen to find Garcia talking to Morgan and Reid, and, of course, in true Garcia style, the second Emily entered her eye line, she was over to her, offering her congratulations and asking how she was.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked, and pulled Emily over to her seat. "How far along are you? Is the baby okay? Are you okay?" She bombarded her with questions.

"Whoa, slow down, Garcia." Morgan chuckled slightly, seeing Emily's startled face.

"Sorry." She looked down and apologised.

"It's alright." Emily looked up and gave her a soft smile.

"I know I never got to say it before, but congratulations, Princess." Morgan gave her a small hug and Emily squeezed him back.

"So, how far along are you?" Garcia perched herself on the edge of Emily's desk.

"About four months." She said, sort of quietly as she looked down to the floor.

"What? Four months!" Garcia looked in shock, "Why on earth did you not tell us sooner?" Emily looked more ashamed now.

"I was scared of losing it." She informed them. Now it was Reid's turn to throw in a fact or two.

"Statistically speaking, the point of miscarriage is three months, but losing a baby can be up to six months, any point after that is premature labour." Emily glared at him.

"Not helpful, Reid." She gave him a small smile seeing his awkwardness.

"Sorry, congratulations anyway." He gave her a nod and Emily smiled back at him.

"Thanks." Hotch walked out onto the balcony, not finding it amusing that Emily was actually still in work.

"Prentiss, home, now." He walked down the stairs, keys in his hands.

"Hotch, I'm fine." She looked around at everyone else for back up, which was not there. "Fine." She sighed and stood up, taking her stuff with her.


	7. In Sickness And In Health

**A/N.** Thanks for the reviews, subscriptions and alerts, they really make me happy. This chapter is for all of you, and anyone else reading!

A special dedication to my amazingly wonderful Fairy Goddaughter, Alyson, who is often mentioned on my profile. Have an amazing fourth birthday, Princess, love you always, Trina. Xx

**Chapter 7: In Sickness And In Health**

Walking into the bull-pen at nine one morning, Emily smiled at everyone. Putting her bag down, she sat at her desk and looked at Morgan who was in front of her. Then, her eyes glanced behind herself, and fell on the office of Aaron Hotchner. All the lights were off and it seemed that Hotch had not touched the pile of files on his desk. She turned back with a look of concern on her face and looked frantically at Morgan.

"Where the hell is Hotch?" She asked in a frantic state. Giving her a chuckle, Morgan replied:

"Don't panic yourself, Princess, he's on a case. Him and Rossi have gone to interview some people." Although he explained this, Emily still never lost the worried look on her face. "Seriously, stop with the worrying, he is fine, besides, I am sure the worry can't be good for the baby." His eyes fell down to the more obvious bump on her stomach and he could not help but smile.

"Yeah, I guess." She still seemed a bit bummed, but tried her best to get over it. "So what did I miss yesterday afternoon?" She asked, smiling widely remembering the reason as to why she was off.

"Nothing, like normal, but how about you? Is everything okay?" Emily gave him a nod.

"Yeah, everything is fine, and this is for you." She handed him the thing he had asked for.

"Awh, look at the little speck!" He looked at the blob on the scan picture. "I swear it's a boy." He looked closely at it.

"Morgan, I do not want to know what it is!" She told him.

"Sorry there, Princess, but we all have our bets on." She rolled her eyes.

"I figured, but I still do not want to know." She informed him.

"Shouldn't you have found out yesterday, I believe the fifth month is where you can find out." Reid commented as he returned with his and Morgan's coffee in hand.

"Yeah, once again, I did not want to know." She rolled her eyes.

The jet was silent, both men were doing completely different things. Hotch, seemed to be in a daydream daze, where as Rossi sat reading over the case file for the millionth time.

"Dave, remember, we can't know the case more than he does." Hotch looked over and Dave nodded, putting the file down on the table he searched in his go bag for something else to keep him entertained. Finding the book he was currently reading, he pulled it out and began looking over the words, non of them registering really as he heard Hotch's cell phone ring. Cursing, Hotch hated having such good signal in the sky sometimes and picked up the call which he knew Rossi was listening in on.

"Hotchner." He said, forcefully and coldly.

"Hello Mr. Hotchner, I am calling to inform ask you to come and pick Jack up. He seems to be unwell and has spent the past twenty minutes throwing up in the nurses' office." The woman on the end explained. Hotch now cursed mentally.

"Sorry, I am unable to come and get him, have you tried Jessica, is Aunt?" He asked.

"Yes, we have, it seems she is in a meeting." He cursed again, and had no clue what to do.

"Well I am in the middle of a three hour flight at the minute…" He thought then had an idea. "Just give me five minutes and I will call you back. Bye." He hung up and looked at a more curious Dave. "Don't even ask." He groaned and called Garcia's office number.

"Oracle of all things wonderful and wacky. How may I be of service?" She sounded quirky.

"Hi, Garcia, it's Hotch." He informed her, as if she did not already know.

"What can I search for you, Sir?" He heard her fingers fly over the keys on her keyboard.

"Nothing… well, can you go and get Prentiss on the line for me?" Garcia panicked, was she in trouble?

"Sure, two seconds." Holding onto the line still, he heard her chair moving, the door open then an annoying computer fan filled the silence until her heard two people enter the office.

"Yeah, Hotch?" He now heard Prentiss' voice.

"Sorry to be a pain in the ass, Prentiss, but I figured Jack would be more comfortable with you. It seems he is sick and obviously I'm unable to pick him up and Jessica is in a meeting… would you pick him up and look after him until I got home?" Emily's eyes lit up, she loved spending time with that little boy so of course she would be happy to go and get him.

"Sure, Hotch. I'll get on my way." She began to leave the room.

"Thanks, and call me if you need anything." He said goodbye to Garcia before hanging up and re-dialling the schools number.

"Agent Hotchner?" Was all the person asked and he could tell they were slightly anxious.

"Yes. Agent Emily Prentiss will be coming to get him."

"Alright, that's great. On another note we fine to give him some calpol?" She asked, and he could hear a vomiting sound in the background.

Yes, sure. You're fine to give him some of that."

"Alright, thank you Agent Hotchner. Bye." She hung up and Aaron gave a sigh before looking at an amused Rossi.

"Kids 'ey, who'd have 'em?" He laughed and Hotch rolled his eyes before dialling another number.

"Hello, this is Agent Aaron Hotchner… yes, I know she's in a meeting… no, just tell her that Jack will not need to be picked up tonight. Tell her I have it sorted. Thanks." He hung up again and sighed.

Pulling up to the front of the school, Emily could have sworn she had gotten there in record time. She turned the engine off and took the keys, entering the school building. Of course, she was stopped at the entrance, and was asked for her ID, obviously she had expected that, after all, Hotch would shoot every teacher at that school if some weirdo pretending to be her had came in and snatched Jack.

Nearing the nurses office she heard horrible noises of vomiting that made her own stomach turn, but she was not backing away now, so she knocked lightly and entered the room. The look on Jack's eyes as she entered was unmistakable and he looked relieved and happy.

"Miss Em'ly!" He gave her a smile, before frowning and holding his stomach, with a dry heave over the bin. She immediately felt sympathetic for the young boy, knowing exactly how it felt and knowing her must feel ten times worse.

"Hey, Little Man, your daddy called and said you weren't feeling too well." She knelt in front of him and pressed her cold hand - from being outside, to his forehead. He was over warm, but not dangerously hot.

"Is he not coming?" Jack's disappointment was evident in his voice.

"He can't buddy." She shook her head and frowned slightly for emphasis. "But, look on the plus side, you get to spend a day with me!" She watched him smile slightly. "Alright, how about we get you home and to bed, yeah?" She softly raised him into her arms, and shifted his weight so he was not resting on her bump.

"Maybe you shouldn't…" The nurse protested against her carrying the heavy child, but shut up once Emily glared at her. "Carry on." She passed her Jack's school bag and coat before watching them leave the office. Nearing the car she, struggled but managed to unlock the car doors, but when she finally did, she fumbled with a car seat before placing Jack in and putting a thin blanket over him. A plastic bag lay in front of him with some tissue lining the bottom just in case he needed to be sick. Before closing the door, she put her hand on his forehead again, just to make sure he was not getting warmer, but with the coldness of her own hand, it was impossible to check anything, so she shut the door gently and went to the drivers' side. Before making any effort at all to drive away, she got out her phone and called Hotch.

"Hey, Prentiss, is something wrong?" The worry in Hotch's voice was evident.

"No, I thought I would just put you out of your worry, which I see I only added to. Sorry." She bit her lip tenderly.

"It's alright. Is Jack okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, he's fine. Throwing up like there is no tomorrow though. Do you have any medicine in yours'?" She heard him chuckle slightly.

"Yeah, fridge, and the thermometer and everything is in the medicine cupboard. I'm sure you'll find everything."

"Yeah, best get him home before he throws up in the SUV." She chuckled slightly before hanging up and driving away.

She walked into the small boys bedroom and pulled the blinds to block out any sunlight. A thermometer in one hand and a spoon and medicine in the other.

"Hey, Sweetie, how're you feeling?" She crept up to his bed and popped the thermometer in his mouth. Waiting a minute she removed it and checked, to see he was fine.

"Em'ly, stay with me, please. Mommy used to… I miss her." Emily's heart broke for the child.

"Of course I will stay with you, now open up." She told him, pouring out the medicine on a spoon and Jack reluctantly swallowed the stuff with a gulp. "Now sshh, sleep." She rocked him slowly in her arms until Jack fell to sleep, and soon after, she felt her eyes closed as well.

Waking up with a start, she heard Jack mumbling in his sleepy, calpol induced state.

"Mommy? But mommy, why leave me." There was a pause in which she felt that Jack had fallen back to sleep, but he started talking again.

"Jack, sweetie, sshh." She rocked him lightly again and felt him nestle up against her in a sweet way, his small hand resting on her stomach, which also made Emily smile, little did the boy know.

A tugging at her side and a familiar sound woke her up as she saw Jack, leaning over the bed and throwing up into the trash can. Her hand went to his back as she rubbed tenderly in soft circles. It seemed like forever until the boy stopped throwing up and there were just dry heaves.

"Em'ly, my tummy hurts." He sobbed and laid on her chest.

"Sshh, it's alright, okay, let me go downstairs and make you some soup." She kissed the top of his head and left the boy's room.

It was now around four in the morning and the ordeal with Jack had taken it's toll on her. Emily was now exhausted. She sat on the living room sofa, watching some rubbish which she had no clue what it was about or what had gone on. Eating a sandwich. Her exhaustion was catching up with her and her eyes began to fall, until they were sprung back open by the sound of a creak on the stairs. Her head spun around at lightning speed, startling the young boy and he ran over into her arms.

"Jack, what are you doing up?" She asked. Her hand going to his forehead and seeing that his temperature was going back to normal.

"I woked up and my tummy was hurting again." He told her in a sad voice.

"Awh, it's okay, do you want me to go and get you some more food?" A soft shake of his head told her all he wanted was some company. "Alright then, pick a DVD and I will go and get one and we'll watch it down here, alright?" He anxiously nodded.

"Hansel and Gretel please." He gave her a small smile and Emily kissed him on the head before going up the stairs and getting the DVDs off of Jack's shelves. She then searched around in Hotch's cupboards to find a blanket and pillow and finding them, she took them downstairs. Carefully, she tucked a blanket around Jack and placed a pillow under his head before putting the DVD on and settling on the couch herself. She felt Jack nestle up to her as the film started and smiled as he looked up to see her.

"I miss my mommy sometimes, Em'ly." He said after a minute of looking at her face. Emily could not help but frown.

"I know you do, Mr." She gave give a fake reassuring smile.

"But I like it when you come over, you're like mommy used to be. You're all warm and cuddly and you always know what to do." Tears welled up in her eyes and Jack hugged her. "Why are you crying Em'ly?" He looked sad for her.

"Because you're the best kid ever, and I would love my baby to be just as sweet as you." She dried her eyes and kissed him on the head.

"I think you would make a great mommy, Em'ly." She had to smile now.

"Really?" The boys nod made her smile widen. "Wanna know a secret?" She asked, and his eager nod told her to go on. "I am going to be a mom."

"Really?" His eyes lit up.

"Yeah."

"When is the baby going to be here?" He asked.

"We've got another few months left to wait, I'm afraid." She saw him frown and look confused.

"Where is the baby?" He asked, and Emily lifted the blanket slightly to let him see her bump, which, of course, he thought was just her getting fat.

"It's in there." His eyes lit up even more.

"There? There's a baby in there?" She nodded and his hand went to her stomach and Emily could see a question brewing on his face. "How'd the baby get in there, Em'ly?" She panicked.

"How about we leave that question for another day, right now I think we both need to sleep." Luckily for her Jack yawned on time and gave a sleepy nod. He rested his head on the pillow before letting his hand fall on Emily's stomach and whispering into the bump.

"Good night, baby." He smiled, "Night Em'ly."


	8. Apologies

**Chapter 8: Apologies**

Hotch cursed as he fumbled with his keys outside his house; his hands had gone completely numb just from the walk from his car to his house. Breathing out, a cloud of condensation showed in the night air. He knew he should have gotten home earlier, but he also believed that if Emily needed help looking after Jack she would have called him or someone else, and with no calls in the past six hours she figured she had gotten help… or fell asleep. She did sound absolutely exhausted at her twelve o'clock call. He regretted not leaving earlier, but he had not and now he was outside his house at six in the morning in the freezing cold winters air. He, once again, made a fumble for his keys, and finally separated the one that opened the front door out. As quiet as possible, he put the key in the door and turned it, and the door popped open. He was welcomed by the soft snores of his son and some soft mumblings from Emily, and the sound of the horrid Hansel and Gretel main menu in the background and he regretted not coming home sooner now as well. He should have known Emily would have slept on the couch, which is never a comfortable place for anybody, let alone a five months pregnant woman who had to share with the horrid six year old. As he loomed closer, he took the remote and turned the TV off. Turning back around, he saw Jack sleeping happily and comfortably on Emily, his tiny hand on her small bump and he had to smile, but he soon lost the smile as he saw Emily shivering from the cold. Of course, he knew his son was a blanket stealer, but obviously, Emily did not and as she shivered again, he filled with concern. Immediately, he scooped his son off of Emily's body and carried him upstairs, watching her shiver as the warmth from Jack was gone. When he came back down, the blanket in his hand, he threw it over Emily and tried his best to get her as warm as possible. He was dying just to pick her up and carry her to the bedroom, but he was worried he would hurt her and that he might wake her. Unfortunately, his avoidance had woken her up and her eyes fluttered open to meet his.

"Morning." He said and watched as she looked startled and then felt around for Jack.

"He's in bed, like normal, but if you keep letting him sleep on the couch, I am going to need to get some muscles for all the carrying up the stairs." She laughed slightly and sat up.

"What time is it?" She sounded groggy.

"A little after six." Hotch informed her and Emily stood up. "You should go up to my bed." He told her and Emily shook her head.

"No, Hotch, I'm fine." Just as she spoke, a yawn left her mouth.

"And I'm not a control freak." She smiled slightly.

"Fine, Hotch…" She paused, "On one condition." A mischievous smile grew on her face.

"And that would be what, Prentiss." He tried to kick into boss mode seeing she was vulnerable and acting off due to her lack of sleep.

"You…" She pointed a finger in his direction, poking his torso, "come with me." She said and gave him a more flirty smile.

"We both know that is not going to happen, now come on, to bed." He lightly pushed her towards the stairs, but she tried to remain unmoved.

"No, Hotch, I'm not going to bed until you join me." She gave him a goofy smile and Hotch realised he had no choice but to accompany her to bed.

"Alright, c'mon." Reaching the second to last step, he saw her begin in sway slightly, and he reached up just in time to stop her from falling, quickly leaning her forward and setting her down on the steps. Before pulling away, he lingered slightly above her, and in that split second Emily reached up and her lips touched with Hotch's. It was not a passionate kiss, or even a deep kiss, just a lingering touch. Of course, it sparked awkwardness in Hotch at least.

"Ew, your moustache and beard are growing back, grab a razor or something!" Emily complained, seemingly putting the kiss in the past, and standing back up. With Hotch's assistance, she walked the remainder of the stairs, landing and to the bedroom without another hassle and soon the pair were lying in bed, resting.

Hotch lay awkwardly on his half of the bed, Emily lay wrapped up in the other half, and it was not long before he felt her come closer and closer in her sleepy state. He felt a sense of vulnerability, not that Emily could see him or he felt at risk, he was just worried what effect this was going to have on his job and his boy. He felt the bed shake, and automatically knew it was because Emily was cold, Hotch had to admit, his room was never warm in the first place, so he did the very un-bossly thing of pulling her in his arms and trying his best to keep her warm, after all, the fraternization was less of an issue than what would be said if a pregnant member of the team got hypothermia whilst in his home. As he wrapped his arms around her, he grazed her more noticeable bump and had to smile, remembering all the nights he had laid there with Hailey, holding her, and stroking her stomach, talking to their son. Of course, he knew Emily would not have anyone to do that, Hotch did not even know who the father was, so, in an even more un-bossly way, he lent down and whispered to the bump.

"I will protect you, I promise." Quite happy that Emily was asleep and had stopped shaking, he let his eyes drop and fell into a heavy sleep as well.

As his eyes slowly open, he takes a deep breath and is bombarded by a raspberry smell that was too pleasant for his nose and he carefully tried to move her hair from his nose. Just as he was doing this, he noticed he had shook Emily slightly and her eyes began to flutter awake and take in the daytime light.

"Hotch?" She asked groggily and realised just where she was and as it dawned on her, he saw her eyes shot even more open and she sat up in shock. "Oh my God, last night. Please tell me I was just having a nightmare." She gulped, moving further away from him in the bed.

"What about it are you on about?" He looked slightly amused.

"The part that lead to here." She realised that it must have been real. "I am so sorry, Hotch, I mean, Sir." She tried to redeem herself by getting out of the bed as fast as she could. "I am so sorry, I was tired, I had no clue what I was saying. Sorry." She apologised for the millionth time before just leaving the room without another apology. As Hotch sprung up to stop her, but, hearing his son begin to wake up, he was forced to go back into his room, and a second or so later he heard Emily's car start, and then the sound of it driving away.

He arrived at work an hour late after having to watch Jack until Jessica arrived, then there was the added delay of him having to change his suit because his son threw up on him. If that had not already pissed him off, the mood between him and Prentiss at the office had also added to his frustration. They first ran into each other at the coffee machine, and both of them barely said a word to each other. Hotch had actually sounded less cold than normal with her, just saying 'Prentiss' in a sweet tone almost, but her cold, plain 'Sir' was sent back, before Emily walked away, her drink in her hand. Of course, Morgan picked up on the mood automatically and gossiped with Reid about it. When he asked Emily about the cold moment, she said it was hormones. Now, she was busily working through some files, as Hotch came out onto the balcony.

"Prentiss." He had a more firm voice, more boss like. Emily felt like she was back in High School, and she was being called to the Principal's office, the only difference being, she knew what she had done wrong now and she did not know how much apologising would be able to fix it. Standing, nervously, she turned to see him still there, and her eyes avoided his, not wanting to make any of this a public display. As she came to his office, he followed her in, closing the door and shutting the blinds that allowed the other members in the bull pen to look in. She nervously took a seat without asking, as Hotch knew she would do so well because he would not want her standing up until he gave her the say so to sit down, now that was unacceptable. "You should not be here." He said, his bossy tone dropping slightly. Emily gave the floor a confused look (still not looking him in the eyes), she was unsure what she had done so wrong that would result in her having time off. Of course, Hotch having not seeing that look and Emily unable to come up for an answer with her confusion, she had to look him in the eye.

"What, Sir?" It seemed that she had slipped back into her habit of calling Hotch 'Sir'.

"Emily." He gave her a 'stop that' look and she looked more vulnerable than before.

"I'm sorry, Hotch, I just don't know what I have done wrong. I mean, I know this morning was unacceptable but…" He did the only thing that could stop her rambling, which made him grateful that the blinds were shut. His lips went into her's and this time, he massaged her bottom lip with his own.

"Sshh, Em." He said when he finally pulled away, "This morning was… fine… more than fine even. I know I shouldn't say this, but I have been waiting a while to do that."

"To sleep in a bed with me without sex? Gee, thanks Hotch." She said, sarcasm staining her words.

"No, to kiss you, fool. See, what I mean is… I… I am falling for you Agent Prentiss. I am falling in love with Emily." He said, making sure she understood it, but she still sat motionless.

"I uh…" She had no clue what to say, and now Hotch felt ashamed.

"Oh, my, God, I'm so sorry, I thought you wanted to… and I…" He began rambling, and Emily did the same as he did to her and kiss her, this time both of their lips taking part.

"I have been falling for you too, Hotch." She confessed, when they finally pulled away. "I have been falling for you since day one."

"You don't know how good it is to hear those words… it's amazing." They both smiled at each other and Hotch moved away from her, sitting back at his desk finally remembering where they were and that they could get caught at any moment. "I want you to go home." He said, again, and Emily really had no clue what he was going on about now.

"What? Hotch, but…" She babbled.

"It's nothing to do with this morning, or a minute ago, you haven't been to sleep properly, Emily, and it is all my fault; you were looking after Jack all night." He informed her.

"It's fine, Hotch, I'm awake, and I loved looking after him anyway, he is the sweetest son ever." She smiled a great smile at him, forcing him to give his dimples back. And then they were disturbed.

"Hotch, we have a big…" JJ stopped, "Oh, my, God, Hotch… smiling. What has the world come to." She teased and Hotch shot her an 'un-amused' look. "Sorry, we have a case, a big case."

"I'll be in now." He turned back to Emily, "You, home, now, sleep. There is no way you are coming on this case with us. Final!" He left before she could protest, and he knew within half an hour, she would be in her bed fast asleep.

Arriving home, just twenty minutes later, Emily could not help but smile; she had finally got it all. She thought. She had the man of her dreams… and a family. There it was, she had to gulp. Jack. Of course she should have thought ahead, both her and Hotch knew that is Jack was not ready or he did not like Emily nothing would happen between them. Now fear filled her stomach as she crawled into bed in her yellow bottoms and white top. She laid on her left side, her hand going around her stomach tenderly, remembering where Jack's hand was last night. She knew there was no way he did not like her, but the new mom thing would be a big issue. At least she could understand that. And Jack would still be a great cousin to her baby. Even with her reassuring thoughts, she could not sleep, so she wondered down to the small box room down the hallway, and her eyes fell on the several boxes and bags of things. She thought that doing something productive would help, so taking the giraffe bear off of the crib box, and placing it on the box for the Moses basket, she began to rip open the box, and started putting the pieces together.


	9. Bad Habit

**Chapter 9: Bad Habit**

Her phone rang at an awful two in the morning. Emily groaned, her now even bigger stomach giving her problems with sitting up easily. As she finally managed to sit up, she answered the phone without looking at the bright LCD screen and reading the caller ID.

"Agent Prentiss." She said, groggily and the horrible voice came over the other end, slightly too loud.

"Emily Elizabeth Prentiss, why on earth have you not called me?" She cringed slightly, moving the phone away from her ear.

"Mother. It's two AM." She groaned.

"Yes, and I apologise, but I have a right to be informed about my grandchild!" Letting her head drop back in exhaustion against the wall, she made a thud noise on the bed headboard. She had forgot to try and cal her mother once she got back to US soil.

"Sorry, Mother. I have been trying to call you, but you are so hard to trace! I guess after the last case I was so exhausted, I just forgot to call…" That was all Ambassador Prentiss had to hear.

"You're still doing cases?" She sounded shocked. "How far along are you, I thought you would be about seven months!" She now sounded outraged.

"Almost six months." Emily informed her.

"With such a high risk of injury in your job, I can not believe they still let you go on cases. That is unacceptable, Emily, I want you to keep my grandchild safe!"

"I am, mother, I only go to the station when on a case, never on the field, and I am not allowed around anyone dangerous, alright. Everything is fine. And Hotch has already made me decide that when I reach an unsuitable stage, which is to be decided, I will stay in Quantico and do cases from there. And no, I am not going on maternity leave until the last possible minute."

"Oh come on, Emily, do not be stupid." The conversation tossed back and forth between her and her mother until around three in the morning, before Elizabeth Prentiss decided to make a bank account for the baby which would have money for Emily to get the room sorted and get herself a better home (which of course, Emily took offence too).

She sat at the top corner of the jet, her eyes looking over the file again and again, but she was not taking any of it into her mind. Instead she was thinking back over her mother's words. She knew her place was not very child friendly and that she would need to get a bigger, better place sooner or later. Of course, she still held onto the slight hope that Hotch and her would be a couple by then, but neither her nor Hotch had discussed the situation in a week or so. With the added incident of not knowing if Jack was ready, she was worried about what would happen to her's and Hotch's job. She did not notice but, her eyes drifted up from the words and pictures in front of her for the twentieth time - which was luckily considering non of them wanted her even knowing about the case with these mutilated children. Unfortunately, Rossi noticed the looks, just like he had noticed them all, and Hotch, who had his back to Prentiss, looked at him with a curious look.

"What?" He asked, putting the file down.

"I have no clue what on earth is up with you and Emily…" He was not able to say another word.

"There is nothing up with either of us!" He quietly snapped.

"I'm a profiler, Hotch, and you two have barely said a word to each other that has not been about a case in a week or so! She does not look to great, Hotch, you really should go and talk to her, even if it's a bossly talk, anything to settle her. I have no clue what is up, but I'm guessing by this case file, it has something to do with that." Of course, he was partly right and Hotch made a quiet effort to stand up and go over to her. As Emily's eyes met his, her heart began racing.

"Hi, how are you doing?" He asked as he sat down at a chair opposite her. Carefully dancing around his words, not sure how to go about the hormonal woman.

"I would have been fine if it was not for my mother's call at two in the morning!" She groaned and their quiet words were soon masked by the sounds of Rossi challenging Reid to a game of chess, and the quiet hum of Morgan as he listened to his iPod.

"I'm guessing you never managed to get a hold of her then." She shook her head, placing the file down on the table.

"I knew she was getting back to US soil yesterday, but after the case and everything, I just wanted to sleep." A soft sigh left her mouth.

"And I'm guessing she gave you not a very happy call?" He asked, and another nod came from the raven-haired woman.

"I guess she got my messages and gave up waiting for me to call." She looked down at her lap with another sigh and she knew Hotch was now giving her a concerned look. "She wants me to leave the BAU."

"Until the baby is born?" Asked Hotch. Emily shook her head.

"Permanently." Now he looked shocked.

"Are you going to?" He felt relief wash over him as her head shook.

"No, I love this job, she just doesn't think it is a stable environment for me to raise my baby in, especially with all of the disappearing, it's going to cost me a fortune in babysitters. But I will make it work" It was now Hotch's turn to nod.

"Alright then." He saw how upset she was and just wanted to hold her, comfort her, tell her everything was going to be fine, that he would fix it all, but he could not. That would not be appropriate. So instead he settled for some simple words: "If you ever need some help, or support, or anything, I am here. Well, my office here." He tried to lighten the mood and saw Emily crack the tiniest smile.

"It's alright, you know, I understand about Jack and 'our situation' and if things don't work out you're still a great friend." She gave him a sad smile which assured Hotch that she was not actually okay with it.

"Is that what is on your mind? Oh, Em, don't worry about that Jack's views of you wont change my feelings for you, and I know for a fact that Jack loves you and I'm certain you love him." He flashed her his dimples.

"That is not what I mean. What if he isn't ready for another mother figure in his life? And there's two babies involved here. I think we need to rethink things." The words broke his heart.

"Emily Prentiss, I love you, I love your baby and I love my son. That is all that matters." Subtly, under the table, his hand stroke her leg, not in a flirty way, but in a soothing way, trying to rid her of her worries. "And besides, I promise that if we do take this further, Jack will know and if he is not happy, then we will think if that time comes, but it's not going to." Emily gave another nod before giving a yawn. "Now get some sleep before we land, we need Agent Prentiss on top form!" She smiled at him, but felt unsure about going to sleep; she knew it was one thing to fall asleep after a long case, but falling asleep on the journey out to a case, at only eleven in the morning was pretty unacceptable. But she was too tired, and before she could protest, she felt her head lean against the back of the seat and her eyes close. Sitting still for a moment, Hotch waited until she had fell into a deep sleep, before standing and pulling a blanket down, covering her up with it. He then returned back to his seat, amused to watch Rossi and Reid playing chess.

"I think we should brief." JJ stood up, her file in her hand and she sat next to Reid. The chess set was put away, and Morgan pulled his headphones out of his ears, stopping the music, and of course, all eyes drifted to Emily. "Shall we wake her?" JJ did not even have to look up to know she was asleep; the whole time she had stayed silent, listening, with utter glee and happiness, to their conversation, which she knew was wrong.

"No, she's just fallen asleep. Let her rest a little longer, I'm sure you can fill her in when you get to the station." JJ nodded and all of their files opened, and everyone was witnessed to the horrifying images of slaughtered children, all of the details in a simple box, and a sweet picture of a blonde girl, with a big smile on a school photo: Emma Wilson, their latest missing child. "Oh, and everyone, I think it would be good if we did not go into too much horrifying detail when we talk to Em." Hotch saw them all give him a stupid look.

"She has the file herself, Hotch, she's saw all the pictures, she's read all of the words." Rossi informed him.

"I know, but please." All of the team understood and gave a nod before a chorus of 'fine' filled the jet.

The case was hard on all of them, and Emily was kept as far away from the case as Hotch could find possible, but sooner or later, he had no choice but to accept her full help. Of course, she found it horrible when they revealed everything they had found out whilst they were there, but he was happy to have let her in in the end as, it seemed, without her help a lot more children could have been killed. Two days after they had taken off, they returned back to Quantico, and Emily's first order was to sleep. The rest of the team had headed home to, being that it was only seven in the evening. JJ had offered to drive Emily home, and when they pulled up to her flats, just like Hotch had made Rossi check, she had to make sure she was safe there.

"See, everything's fine. No one is here." Emily laughed slightly and JJ looked around, still unsatisfied. "What's wrong now?" Emily chewed her lip, not really liking the look on the blonde's face.

"I know the amount of shopping me, you and Garcia have done… yet I see nothing around the house, so where are you hiding the baby stuff?" She asked and Emily stopped biting her lip, happy that she did not just see a murderer in her home.

"Oh, it's all up in the 'nursery'. Well, I say 'nursery' I mean painted box room, but for now it will be fine, until I can find a bigger home." She smiled.

"Look at you getting all motherly!" She smiled, "So, can I take a look?" She asked and Emily nodded, leading her up the stairs and opening the door.

The box room was bigger than JJ had thought it would be, after all, calling it a box room made her think it was tiny, but no, it seemed to be quite big. Big enough for the baby anyway. It also felt warm and sweet as she looked around at the beige and cream walls, lined in a teddy bear banner. The room was no longer cluttered with bags and bags of stuff, as Emily had seemed to have gotten someone to put everything together. The crib sat in the corner with the matching blankets that also matched the walls. The wardrobes were muted in colour, but when opened (just like the chest of drawers) was full with unisex clothes of a same neutral colour. All of it looked really sweet and perfectly set up and she could not help but expand her smile as she saw the giraffe teddy bear sitting in the corner of the crib.

"So, who put everything together?" She asked, curiously. A cunning smile on her face as she thought the answer would be Hotch. Hopefully, she wished she had caught Emily out, but the answer was not what she expected.

"I did it all." Emily had a look of pride.

"What? Emily at six months pregnant you should not be doing anything like that!" She looked at her in a serious look.

"I know, but it's too late now, I've done it all and now it's all set up and I don't have to do anything when I'm heavily pregnant." JJ nodded, it was good reasoning after all. There was a sudden awful buzzing noise which both women recognised as the door bell and JJ looked away from the crib to meet Emily's eyes in a protective manner.

"Are you expecting someone?" She asked and Emily shook her head. "Then let me get it." Emily managed to stop her halfway down the stairs.

"No, JJ, it is not a murderer!" She informed her.

"How do you know?" She asked. Emily ignored her questioning and walked to the door. She was tempted to look through the eye hole, but she knew better than to do that, so, instead, she just opened the door and there stood her mother.

"For goodness sake, Emily, are you just going to leave me to freeze out here?" Ambassador Prentiss looked far from pissed off.

"Mother, it is a hallway, not outside." She said in a patronising, informative tone.

"It's cold enough to be outside!" She moaned again, "Now let me in before I catch hypothermia!" Cautiously, fully aware of her bump, she barged past her daughter and entered the house, ignoring JJ's presence completely. She breezed right through to the couch and sat down. JJ shuffled closer to Emily who was still frozen at the open doorway.

"Do you want me to stay?" She cut to the point and Emily shook her head.

"Alright, but call me if you need me, and please get some sleep. Hotch would kill me if I brought you home and you got none." There was that name again, and Emily's heart fluttered a beat.

"Sure, JJ, I promise. Now, good bye, thanks for driving me home! Give Henry a hug and kiss from me." She seemed to get louder as JJ walked down the hall way, but she soon saw the blonde wave goodbye and closed her own front door. Delaying for a second, her hand on the door handle, her face still turning away from her mother, her heavy head rested against the cold wood, she took a deep breath, hoping this was going to be quick as she turned around, and put on her fake smile, the one that had been fooling her mother since she had been a child. "Hello, Mother." The words sounded cold, too cold. She had not meant it to be like that, but with her annoyance, and tiredness, she could not have helped it.

"Oh my goodness, Em, sit down, you look exhausted!" She helped her daughter to the couch and Emily sat in a state of shock, unsure what on earth was going on with her mother, but she soon realised as the woman's hands lingered on her bump, carefully. She waited a minute or two, before speaking.

"Mother, what are you doing here?" She asked, the question sounded stupid now though.

"Can I not come and see how my pregnant daughter and her boyfriend are doing?" She asked, a look of shock on her face, but it was nothing compared to the look of shock on Emily's face. _Boyfriend. _She thought she had a boyfriend. What on earth was she going to tell her? Emily knew it was kind of the truth, but since she barely knew if her and Hotch were a couple, she was not telling her mother anything about him yet, so she settled for a part lie.

"He's out… at work." Her lip was bitten by her teeth and she began taking perfectly fine pieces of skin off of her bottom lip.

"I know when you are lying to me, Emily, now where is he?" Emily could not help but scoff slightly. _She knew when she was lying?_ Fat chance. She had been lying to her parents since she was six, hiding things since she was twelve and that perfect fake smile, she had been giving them that since she was three. See, it did take years for her to perfect the lies, but all would be risked when her teeth went behind her back and gave her away. Darn things.

"He's…" She was really nervous now and her knew she had no control over anything her body was doing, even the stammering, so she told the truth. "He was a one night stand." She confessed. Her eyes fell to her lap in awkwardness. She had not even told the team that yet! And it was one thing telling your close friends/work mates and another to have to tell your mother. To add to the awkwardness, Ambassador Prentiss fumed.

"What? You're a Prentiss! You do not have one night stands! I will not let you raise that child as a single mother! I will not stand for it!" Her mother shouted and Emily felt some courage bubble inside of herself, the same courage she had had in her teenage years.

"Shut up." The first time it was practically a whisper, and as her mother carried on her ramblings she shot up from the couch and raised her voice even louder. "I said shut the hell up, Mother!" The silence that filled the next ten seconds was priceless. Emily loved reading the expression of rage, confusion, disgust and utter shock on her mother's face.

"What?" The tone had shocked her mother so much that now she actually sounded timid.

"If you are not happy with my decisions, then stay the hell out of my life and stay out of the baby's life!" Her mother looked over at her, and Emily could have sworn she saw a look of disappointment on her mothers face.

"Fine then." She dumped an envelope on the table. "I just hope that baby has some sense and leaves you the second it can. The poor thing." Emily looked in more shock, unable to believe that her mother had just said that, but she watched in more shock as the Ambassador Prentiss walked to the door and then she watched as it shut. Dropping her exhausted body against the couch with a groan, she rubbed her stomach where, she could have sworn a soft kick had just been, she smiled lightly. The first kick.

"Sshh, it's alright, she will never get her hands on you, I promise." Another strong kick told her that the last kick was the first of many and she sighed. "Yeah, let's get some food and then bed." Her hand rubbed tenderly in circles on the patch where the baby had just kicked, and she felt another. A smile played on her lips, "You already know how to cheer your mother up."

Placing her empty bowl on the table, she gave a satisfied smile as she felt another, lighter kick.

"God, you're active in there!" She smiled widely. "Definitely have the Prentiss genes." She gave an even bigger smile as her hand rubbed at her stomach, and her eyes fell back on the pointless soap opera on TV. She jumped slightly as a vibrating filled her pocket and she laughed to herself as she realised what it was. "Prentiss." She flipped the phone open and pressed it to her ear, once again not checking the caller ID.

"How the hell did I know you'd still be awake." She smiled to herself, hearing the very familiar and comforting voice on the other end.

"Hey, Hotch. I was actually just going up to bed, I only just finished dinner… and the chat with my mum." Her eyes rolled and she had a bad tone in her voice that Hotch did not like.

"What did she say? Are you okay?" He asked in panic. Emily nodded but noticed he could not see her.

"Yeah, everything is fine… it was _eventful_ to say the least. Look, I'm tired, can I tell you tomorrow?" She asked.

"Sure, good night, Prentiss." She smiled.

"Good night, Sir." She did not wait for his protests or comment as she hung up and put her phone on the table. That's when here eyes locked on the envelope. The one clearly marked with her name in her mother's neat handwriting. She reached for it with reluctance and stared at it in her hands for a minute, studying it. Trying to see if she could see through the envelope which obviously was not possible unless she had invented superpowers in the last hour… but no, she had not. And she found herself sliding her finger in under the only open part of the envelope and she pulled her finger carefully along, as not to paper cut herself, and finally got to the end. Her fingers dipped into the white envelope and pulled out a heavy piece of paper. Two pieces of paper she corrected herself, as she pulled it open. Her eyes were drawn firstly to the blue card at the bottom and she skim read the letter. _'Emily… blah blah blah… house money… blah blah.'_ She groaned. There was her mother's promise and there was the card with apparently… (she double checked the letter) _$100,000_, she had no clue where or how her mother had that money and right now she did not care as she opened the second letter. Once again, there was a second blue card. '_Emily… Baby… more rubbish… £100 a week.'_ She groaned and put both letters back in their envelope before tucking that and her phone in her hand and going to bed for a long, well deserved sleep.


	10. Let Me Ask You Something

**Thanks for the reviews, subscriptions and alerts. :)**

**Sorry that the chapters have been getting shorter and shorter, I don't intend for them to be like that, that is just how it works out. Anywho, there is about five more chapters left. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 10: Let Me Ask You Something**

Lunch time the next day was quite relaxing and Hotch had to smile to himself, happy for getting the day off. He sat in his living room, watching as Jack raced up and down the stairs suggesting films and pausing upstairs for twenty minutes at a time to play with a toy he had just found. He waited the extra twenty minutes to see what DVD his son had brought down this time, but Jack never came. A further ten minutes passed, and he decided to find his son. As he neared the bedroom, he heard the sounds of Jack pretending to be a car, and smiled slightly as he pushed the door open and looked down at his son. Jack looked back up to meet his eyes.

"Daddy, I'm bored. What are we going to do today?" He gave him a sad look.

"I don't know, Jack, why don't you tell me what you want to do." He gave him a reassuring smile.

"Can Em'ly come over?" His eyes lit up, and that triggered Hotch's memory. No time like the present.

"I'm not sure, Jack, but can I talk to you?" He sat on the racing car bed and Jack walked over and sat down on his lap.

"What did you want to talk about, Daddy?" Jack's eyes were filled with confusion.

"I need to know what you think about Emily." He said.

"What do you mean?" The small boy's eyebrows creased just like his fathers did in confusion.

"Do you like Emily?" He waited a minute.

"Yes!" Jack said, a big smile on his face.

"Would you mind if Daddy and Emily started dating?" Another confused look was passed to him from the boy. "Would you mind if Emily came over more often? Slept over more often? Moved in with us even?" He asked, gulping, hoping it was a yes.

"Hmmm…" Jack thought. "I would love that. I love Em'ly, she likes watching films with me and playing games with me!" He smiled happily. "And she has the baby now!" Hotch now looked confused, not knowing his son knew about the baby.

"Would you like to be like a big brother to Emily's baby?" He asked, not really liking the conversation, and feeling slightly awkward.

"Of course not, Daddy. I would show him all my toys and play with him and help you and Em'ly. It would be great!" He smiled.

"You know it might be a girl…" Jack nodded, sadly. "Girls can be fun too! Like Em'ly and Aunt JJ." He mimicked his son.

"I guess so." He nodded again.

"So would you mind if Emily became like a mommy to you? A step-mommy." Jack looked worried.

"Cin'rella had a step-mommy, she wasn't nice to her, she was mean and made her clean and…" He rambled on, listing off all the problems.

"But you like Em'ly and she loves you. So I'm sure she would not be like the mean Step-mommy in Cinderella." Jack thought for a moment.

"If she isn't mean like Cin'rella's step-mommy, then I would like Em'ly to be my step-mommy." He flashed him a big smile and Hotch had to give him one back.

"Good. How about I go downstairs and call Em'ly then? See if she can come over." Jack nodded happily, but then stopped.

"See if we can go to her's… please, please, please. She promised that I could go to the park by her's!" Hotch nodded.

"I will call her and see, alright." He pressed the call button as he left the room and began walking down the stairs to the kitchen, the phone ringing. Just as he got to the kitchen bench, he heard her answer.

"Hey." He could tell she was well rested.

"Hi, I have something to tell you." He paused.

"Well, go on then, don't leave me waiting…" She urged him on.

"No, can I come over to your's? Jack's been dying to see you and he said you promised him that you would take him to the park by yours…" He reminded her and Emily nodded.

"Yeah, sure! I'd love to see him." She smiled happily.

"Great, I will be over at around 1 then…" He told her.

"Yeah, see you then." Both hung up and Hotch raced to tell Jack the good news while Emily rushed upstairs to get showered and ready; her two favourite men were coming over in an hour! She felt her stomach butterfly, and then there was a kick and she had to smile to herself as she go to her bedroom.

An hour later, Emily happily opened the door to see an extremely excited Jack standing there, a huge smile on his face. She bent down and gave him a hug and Jack looked confused.

"Is the baby gotten bigger?" He asked, and Emily smiled.

"Yeah, the baby has got very big. And…" She whispered in his ear and his face lit up. "Now why don't you go and sit in the living room for a minute, I just have something else to do." Jack raced away, and Hotch stepped in. "Two seconds." He watched as she raced back up the stairs, and came down with her coat on and her bag in her hand. "Ready?" Jack's eagerness made him nod extremely fast and he shot up from the couch. "Good, come on then." She walked slowly down the stairs towards the car, Hotch helping her waddle down every step. "God, I'm like a penguin!" She groaned and Hotch could not help but laugh.

"The most beautiful penguin I know." He gave her a smile and helped her down the rest of the steps.

Her hands were tucked tight in her pockets as she rested her body against one of the oddest bench's in the park. She was half standing, when Hotch - who had just rescued Jack off of the climbing frame - returned and gave her a small smile. He came to stand next to her, also half standing as well, he crossed his arms over his chest. Neither said a word, Emily moving one hand to her stomach as the baby kicked again, she smiled slightly. Hotch, who had been watching Jack on the slide, saw her from the corner of his eye, and without turning to look at her, he asked:

"What's wrong?" He saw her move her hand in circles over her bump and now turned to face her.

"Nothing." She replied. Another silence fell between the two before Hotch finally spoke.

"I had a word with Jack…" Now she looked at him.

"And…" He could see her eyes sink slightly with hope.

"He said he would love for you to be his step-mother and he would love to be a big step-brother." Her smile just grew bigger and bigger. "So, I think I can finally do this." He pulled her in close and let their lips lock in a passionate, but not over the top, kiss.

"Ew!" Broke them apart and Emily laughed slightly seeing Jack's face.

"What's up?" She bent down (with difficulty) to his level, and saw him roll his eyes.

"You two are yucky." He pulled a tongue.

"Yeah, well you're yucky too!" She pulled a tongue back, but stopped her hand going to her stomach as she groaned with the baby's kick. Hotch quickly helped her to stand.

"No, really are you okay?" He asked, and now Jack looked concerned too.

"Yeah, the baby just likes to kick extra hard." She gave Hotch a smile.

"What, the baby's kicking?" He smiled and his hand immediately went to her stomach, before vastly pulling away. "Sorry."

"It's fine, Hotch." She took his hand and put it over the place where the baby was kicking and a second or so later he too smiled.

"That is a strong kick." He commented.

"What's going on?" Jack seemed to look worried, excited, confused.

"Come here." She waited until he was closer before putting his hand on the same spot and the second the baby kicked he moved his hand away with speed.

"What is that?" He looked scared.

"It's the baby saying hello." She smiled and Jack still looked unsure.

"Hi baby." He smiled widely waving back, and Emily had to laugh.

Both watched intently as Jack moved from one thing in the park to the next. Then around, again and again. Emily's hand was still carefully on her stomach and Hotch turned to look at her.

"So, what did your mother say?" He finally asked, and Emily had been dreading that question.

"Nothing good really. But I don't think she will be back for a while." Emily informed him.

"Why? What happened?" She now had his full attention. She took a deep breath wondering _did he really need to know?_ She shook her head mentally, giving herself a mental slap on the wrist as well. _Of course he needs to know, he's your boyfriend, he should know._

"She wasn't too happy that I was going to be a single mother and then we were shouting and she said some bad things that I don't want to get in to. Hotch gave her a sympathetic look.

"Just ignore her, she's a heartless cow." He informed her, as if she did not already know. "And you're not alone, you have me now, and even if you didn't, you have the whole team. We're here for you." She gave a nod and then looked back to Jack who was now on the roundabout.

"I know." She gave him a quick smile and went about sorting the compartments in her mind to get her past this, just like she always had and always will. Strangely, she was shook from her thoughts as an arm snaked around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

"I love you." Hotch said, and kiss the top of her head.

"Love you too." She replied, but made no move to kiss him. She liked just sitting like this, it was perfect.


	11. Alright?

**Chapter 11: Alright?**

JJ walked out of her office, disappointed to see Prentiss at her desk again. She cursed, knowing the seven months pregnant woman should be at home asleep by now. Cautiously, she walked towards her desk with some noise to try and not startle her, and it worked, as Emily's eyes looked up from the file as she heard the woman's footsteps.

"Hey." She gave her a small smile, and JJ soon saw that she was just holding her pen in her right hand above her work, but she was not doing any of it. Her left hand sat on her stomach, feeling a patch.

"Are you alright?" She asked, watching her in concern.

"Yes, of course I am." She gave a reassuring smile, "The baby is just kicking like crazy."

"Maybe it's trying to tell you to slow down and get the hell to bed." The blonde gave her a concerned look as her hand pressed harder into her stomach. "We have a case, but I'm gonna call Hotch and you're going home." She watched as Emily's head shook with speed. "C'mon, Em. You must be exhausted." Another shake of the head. "Alright, I'm going to go call everyone." JJ gave her a small smile and walked away, having another look back to make sure that Emily was alright.

She let the pen in her right hand drop and using both of her hands she forced herself to stand up, with an unsure wince. Standing still for a moment, she waited for it to pass and, after some time, it let off and she climbed the stairs going to the conference room. Stopping, as she reached the table as a pain like no other filled her stomach, and she held one hand on the table, and another on her stomach. She groaned and winced.

"Hey, sweetie, you have to let off. Mommy isn't made of stone you know. You're hurting me." She said when it finally passed and exhaled slowly before sitting down.

Watching intently from the corner of the station, JJ saw as Emily winced again. She gave a frown of confusion and saw Emily's eyes attempt to close again, but her hand stayed on her stomach, pressing tightly. A minute or two passed, in which JJ thought she was finally asleep, but a further minute passed, and she was corrected, as she saw Emily's eyes snap open and her hand press deeper. Chewing her bottom lip intently. JJ had had enough, something obviously was not right with Emily, with the baby and she needed to know now if she was going to help her. Excusing herself from the current conversation she was having with another officer, she walked towards the half sleeping, half alert agent.

"Prentiss, what's wrong?" She knelt in front of her and asked. Emily looked startled, like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Nothing, I'm fine." As soon as the words left her mouth, JJ watched her suck in a quick breath and bite her lip again.

"Em, don't kid yourself. I know you aren't fine, now tell me what is wrong and then we will see what we can do…" Emily's eyes went around the office and she saw quite a few sets of eyes on her.

"Can we please just go into the side room?" She asked, and JJ, of course, nodded. Helping her up from the seat, JJ helped her into the office.

"Alright, now talk." She ordered as she helped her down on to a seat, and crouched again in front of her. A pause came, in which Emily's hand went back to her stomach and JJ could hear the quietest groan from her.

"I don't know what is going on, JJ, it just hurts!" To accompany her statement, she gave another almost muted groan.

"Alright, Em, what does it feel like?" JJ waited a moment, until the profiler's eyes reopened.

"Just… sharp. I don't know what it is, but it's been happening all night and day." Emily met her gaze and JJ could see her eyes water up slightly, and she was unsure if it was because of the pain, or just fear. "I don't want to lose this baby, JJ. Please don't let me lose this baby." JJ stood up and looked around the room in panic almost; she had no clue what to do. Her hand fell onto Emily's shoulder, and she took a deep breath, worried for the older woman. She could not mistake the pain inside her own heart, there was no way she would be able to cope without Henry. It was in that moment she decided what to do.

"Alright, Em, I'm going to take you to the hospital, I'm sure Hotch and them will come down once they've done with the interview." Emily shook her head at lightning speed.

"I don't want them to know. Not yet, not until I know what it is. Please JJ." She looked at her with pleading eyes and JJ saw nothing to do but to nod.

"Alright, it's okay, we will find out first. Okay?" A small nod and she helped Emily to stand before trying her best of getting discreetly out of the station.

Pacing backwards and forward, she wondered if it was possible to actually burn a hole in the floor from all of the pacing, yet she found it impossible to sit down, regretting her decision of not forcing Emily to let her go with her, but now, her phone clutched in her hand, she wanted to call Hotch. Knowing that the second she would ring him, Hotch would be down there in only a few minutes, she wondered if Emily would try and kill her when Hotch was there. Probably. She decided against it. It seemed like forever more that she paced a little longer, and then she heard Emily's name being called out. The pacing was like a warm up for her, and the second she processed the name, she was off racing to the doctor. Walking towards the hospital room seemed to be distorted, and further she got down the hall, the further away the room seemed. But sooner or later she was stood outside the room, not knowing what to expect when she walked inside. Her eyes would not look over towards the bed, as she entered the room, instead her mind took in the quiet beep in the corner. She could have sworn this was not that serious when she had brought her in. Her hand clutched tighter around her phone and she wanted to run and call Hotch, but she looked around, and decided to asses the damage. The minute she did, relief swept over her body as she saw Emily lying in the bed awake with a small smirk on her face.

"Is everything okay?" JJ asked, sitting next to Em's bed and taking her hand.

"Yeah." She gave a small nod. "Apparently I've been stressed. That's what the baby was trying to tell me." She informed JJ who gave a bigger smile.

"No late night work or away cases for you anymore then!" Rolling her eyes, Emily answered back:

"Actually, the doctor said bed rest for two weeks, and then I would be fine as long as I 'take it easy'." She used air quotes.

"And 'take it easy' to me, and to Hotch and the team, means staying in Quantico until you pop that little boy or girl out of you." JJ said and both laughed slightly before Emily bit her lip. "What's wrong, are you still in pain?" JJ asked, her hand holding onto Emily's slightly tighter, but as Emily's head shook slightly, a smile grew on her lips.

"The doctor… he, accidentally… He said the baby's a girl." JJ's smile grew bigger and she gave her a tight hug.

"Oh my god, a little girl. We need to get little pink dress' and we can paint the nursery pink and everything!" Emily calmed her down.

"JJ, no, I'm sticking with unisex colours any way. I mean, a pink dress or two is fine, but I don't want to push her to like a specific colour. I want her to be whoever she wants to be." Giving a nod, JJ understood what she meant.

"So, any name ideas yet?" She asks, and Emily smiled at her.

"Not yet. But I think now I know she's my little girl, I can give her a perfect name." JJ nodded.

"I've go to go and call Hotch, you know…"

"I know, go on. But tell him I'm fine! And don't mention the baby is a girl please!" She called the rest it as JJ reached the hospital door.

Through the plainly coloured walls Emily could hear the voices outside. Talking, really loudly. It was obvious that none of the team were too happy with her.

"What do you mean 'she's been stressed'?" Hotch fumed. Then she heard a female voice, JJ, saying something she could not understand.

"You saw her here all that time and you never once sent her home?" Now she heard Morgan fume.

"Morgan, you try and send her home, we all know how stubborn Prentiss is!" Emily wanted to step into the conversation, but listening through the wall did not give her enough opportunity to cut in, and even if she had, the team probably would not have heard her. "Whatever caused it, we need to remember now to keep her stress levels down. She's been put on bed rest for the next week or so. Then the doctors will determine what will happen. So, calm down now, because I don't want any shouting when you go in there!" She had to smile a little. JJ was always on her side, and now she knew she would do anything for that little girl of hers'.

The door handle moved and the wooden door opened, to see JJ leading in the team, a forced smile on her face.

"Look who I found." She said and Emily had to laugh slightly.

"It's alright, JJ, these walls are thin, I heard the whole argument." That just opened up the opportunity for a lecture from Hotch.

"Prentiss, how could you be that stupid, you knew not to do that, and the poor baby, all the stress you must have put on it!" She looked down slightly with a small nod.

"I know, Hotch, I understand. I promise I would not be stupid again." She surrendered.

"You really think we're letting you out of Quantico?" Both of his eyebrows raised in question. "You are staying there no matter what the doctor says, at least if you are there, Garcia will be to, and there is always a couch if you need to crash in the middle of work. And no more late night work." Her eyes met his and she saw his stern look, so she gave in… for now.

"I know, Hotch, I won't." He nodded, and did not get the chance to say another thing as the door re-opened and in walked her doctor.

"Oh, full house. Nice to see some 'friendly' faces." He looked at all of them, none of them looking amused in the slightest. "Well, I'm here to look at that," He pointed to the grey machine in the corner. "And if it says good things, you can go home. And I do mean _home,_ you need to sleep. And have a lot of it!" As he ordered he walked to the side of the bed and looked at the machine, his eyes and hands going to a piece of paper that seemed to be coming out of the bottom of it.

His eyes examined the sheet of paper first, then his right hand traced over the pattern of lines and bumps before he finally commented. In the mean time, the team all watched him with eager eyes, waiting for him to say something. Emily's bottom lip was being chewed like there was no tomorrow by her top row of teeth.

"It seems the cramps have died down slightly, Agent Prentiss, and they are far few and less painful than when you first come in, which is actually a good result for only having spent and hour or so in the hospital." He informed her, and then she heard JJ's slight mumbling.

"If only you knew how long she was in pain for before she even let me bring her in here." The doctor turned to face her with a face that was asking her to repeat the statement, but JJ shook her head and it seemed as if a silent conversation had gone on between them both.

"So, since you have made such good progress, I feel safe to let you leave now, as long as you keep the stress levels down and the pains should stop, or, you can stay the night and then you can leave in the morning." Her head shook and she spoke before anyone on the team could tell the doctor that she would be staying.

"I'd rather go now." He gave a nod and took a pen out of his pocket, taking her notes of the end of the bed he started writing some things before looking back up to her.

"Just give me a moment then." She watched as he left and began to stand before the team could say anything to stop her.

"Prentiss, we all know you should stay the night." Hotch finally commented.

"No." Was all she said as she walked to the side of the room where her clothes were. "Now if you would leave while I got dressed." She watched as one by one they all left, except JJ, who was used to seeing Emily getting changed as they often shared a hotel room when on away cases.

Outside the room, Hotch pulled out his phone.

"I'm going to call the jet and tell them to get ready, I think this case if close to closing, so Morgan take over the case while I take Emily back to Quantico." Morgan nodded.

"Sure, Hotch. Make sure she is fine." Now Hotch nodded and walked away while pressing some buttons on the phone and pressing it to his ear.

The jet was silent as Emily lay on one of the couches, a blanket over her. Her hands were on her stomach softly, as underneath her skin her stomach cramped every so often. It was no longer a strong pain, more of a baby kick pain. The same one's she had been having the night before. Her lip was now slightly cut up, and a slight dried jewel of blood rested under it, but not for long, because she knew when the cramp came again, she would be biting her lip again. She felt a presence lingering, and then, one of her eyes opened and she saw the shadow of Hotch crouching down to the side of the couch. His hand went to her hair, and he moved it from her face, and, as he did, she opened her other eye to look at him properly.

"Why did you do that, Em?" She heard his words and they cut her like a knife. It sounded like he was implying she had done that on purpose, which obviously, she had not. But, despite the words being harsh, his tone was calm. Not a thing like the tone he had used in the hospital room. Now he sounded like the loving, caring, boyfriend that she loved.

"I did not mean to, Hotch, it's not like I purposely woke up and though 'oh, I am going to stress myself out so much…'" She rambled off, but stopped when Hotch's hand finally landed on top of her's.

"Sshh Em." He calmed her.

"I am not blaming you, the only problem I have is you not telling anyone sooner." His thumb rubbed on the back of her hand

"I did not know what it was…" She took a deep breath, "alright, when it got more painful I should have said something, but it's over and done with now, alright Hotch. I'm sorry." Tears welled up in her eyes and she wiped them away with her free hand, before letting it fall back onto her stomach.

"It's okay, just sleep, I will wake you up when we land." He pulled the blanket further over her body and let his hand release hers before lingering his touch on her shoulder. "See you in a little while." He said and she felt her eyes close, finally drifting off into a soft slumber.

"Sweetie, slow down!" Emily called, a wide smile on her face as she watched her daughter and son running around the park, chasing what she only knew as their family pet. Her mind whirled, and she knew in her brain that she was now dreaming, if it was not for the slightly suspicious dream like haze fogging every image, it had to be the fact she had children. Catching her mind off guard, she jumped off of the picnic blanket with a start, as a black cat ran along the material, not caring of anything in its path. Plates, which luckily had no food on yet, were being tread on by it's tiny paws. Her curiosity was lost as she watched an older version of Jack and a toddler chasing after the kitten. Mouth opening to warn them to be careful, she stopped herself as both sped around the blanket and carried on trying (and failing) to catch the kitten. Two arms climbed around her waist, and she looked down to see the familiar hands of Hotch. She now finally realised that a large bump lay on her stomach, and she smiled even wider as she saw his hands rubbing the bump slightly. Tilting her head backwards, her eyes met Hotch's and their lips touched in a kiss which she smiled into as she heard more familiar voices.

"Hey, lovebirds, hand here?" Both agents turned to see Morgan talking to them as they laid out the picnic blanket with food. Hotch's hands released from her stomach as he went and helped them, and Emily's smile grew wider seeing the entire team there, all of them also happy.

JJ seemed to have a bump, too, just like her own yet hers' was smaller and seemed to be just a few months in. In Will's arms laid an older Henry, who was fast asleep.

"Hey, what on earth are you smiling at?" JJ asked, and Emily shook her head.

"Nothing." Her smile grew again until she heard a strange voice that sounded like Hotch's, yet it was coming from the sky.

"Emily…" It was repeated and she looked up.

"God?" She asked, and now she began to wake up. Hotch smiled, hiding his laughter.

"You wish I was God." He smirked. "We've landed." He informed her and he helped her to sit up. "Are you feeling okay to walk because I am sure I would struggle but I think I can carry you." He said, and Emily smiled a sleepy smile.

"I'm fine, Hotch." He smiled in return and helped her to stand.

"Good, now come on. I'm taking you back to mine." He saw her lips open for her to interrupt him and protest. "No buts. You are staying with me for the next week, think of it as a test run, and if it works out, we can consider making this permanent." The idea sounded amazing; a whole week with Hotch and Jack. She could not even complain, as much as her head wanted to, she listened to what her heart, and baby, wanted, and succumbed to allowing Hotch to take her to his place.


	12. I Can Handle It

**Chapter 12: I Can Handle It…**

His chest felt like a weight was being pressed onto it, and he struggled to breath. He knew exactly why he was now sitting in the all too comfy leather chair of Strauss' office.

"I know how irresponsible you were, Aaron." Her head shook slightly in disapproval, and he could not help but feel the sense of thinking _doesn't everyone already know?_ "Allowing a pregnant Agent to stress herself so much she ended up in hospital on a case was bad enough, bringing her home and allowing Agent Morgan to run the team is another, after leaving Morgan to get shot was bad enough but you had to push it over the top with a relationship with Agent Prentiss." The disapproval was thickly lining her words and he sucked in a deep breath. A part of him already feeling back for getting Morgan shot, but it was pushing it when the true reason he was in that office came to light: his relationship with Prentiss.

"I did not 'allow' him to get shot." He now spoke.

"You might not have pushed him in front of the bullet, Agent Hotchner, but leaving in the middle of a case to escort your 'new fling' home, is so appropriate!" She snarled him and Hotch looked infuriated.

"She is not my 'new fling'" He air quoted her.

"I do not care for any details on yours' and Agent Prentiss' relationship, Agent Hotchner, but, since the relationship has been brought to my attention, I have been forced to note how, since that relationship, your team have been in trouble and what has happened. And it has now been brought to my attention that you, since that relationship started, have not cared for the team as much as before, and your feelings are clouding your judgment. Now, I feel that firing you completely would be a slight bit over the top, but I am giving you the option to either break off your relationship with the newly pregnant agent, or stand down from your position as Team Leader." Aaron knew the first was not an option, and, from seeing his face, Erin Strauss figured that out too, "Who will you assign the team to?" She asked, and Hotch wondered for a moment before replying.

"Agent Derek Morgan once his injury has healed, until that time, I give the team over to Agent David Rossi." He said.

"Great decision." She slid a piece of paper over to him, a black ball-point pen lying on top of it. Picking the pen up, Hotch skim read over the sheet before resting his hand to sign the names and his signature when his attention was caught by a strange ringing. He could have sworn it was Strauss' phone. To confirm his idea, the woman took out her phone and pressed answer, cutting of the more melodramatic version of 'fur elise.' She stood from her chair and excused herself before leaving the office, the phone to her ear.

Entering his bedroom, he gave off the biggest groan ever and plopped himself on the mattress, right next to a wide awake Emily.

"What's wrong?" She asked, looking at him with worry.

"Nothing, don't worry, it's nothing." He immediately regretted his actions, remembering he was not supposed to be stressing her out.

"Oh, come on, Hotch, you can't shut everything off from me. Besides, I'm off bed rest tomorrow and everything's fine." She pulled a tongue at him.

"Don't think so yet, you are not leaving that bed until I hear the doctor saying you are fine, Emily." It was his turn to pull a tongue.

"Whatever, Hotch, just tell me what is wrong." He shook his head in protest, "Hotch," She grabbed his attention. "With some of the things we see, letting my imagination lose to wonder what the hell has happened is a worse way of stressing me. Even though I am fairly certain that the real reason you are in a foul mood is probably due to something smaller than me thinking JJ is hostage on a train or that Morgan has been shot." Her face dropped when she saw Hotch's expression. "Morgan?" Her eyes widened, "Oh my God, is he alright?" Now she looked overly stressed.

"He is fine, calm down, he is perfectly fine, he was shot almost a week ago anyway." Now her face filled with fury. "I told no one to tell you until you had the all clear."

"What? Hotch! You can not keep things like that from me! Is he fine?" Her shouting died down as she knew it was not good at all for the baby, and it would probably only lead to her bed rest lasing the remainder of her pregnancy.

"He is fine, perfectly fine. Will be on a crutch for a few weeks, but he is alright." He looked down, worry still in his face and Emily could see it was something else bothering him.

"So what is actually wrong then, Hotch?" She asked and his eyes met hers, before he let out breath and succumbed to telling her.

"Strauss…" That name was never good news. "She told me I had to either break up with you, or assign the team over to someone else…" Both of their eyes avoided each other's, but Emily guessed that since his hand was still holding hers' he had gone for the second option.

"Who did you sign it over to?" She asked, already knowing the answer.

"Morgan… well, Rossi until Morgan is better." She gave a nod.

"Good choice." Giving him a small reassuring smile told him he had done the right thing.

"She said I will be re-assessed when the baby is born to see how our relationship affects it then, if I don't stop putting the team first I might lose the position permanently." He looked to the bed as he gave the worst part of the news, "Or I might lose my job."

"That is not going to happen, Hotch. If it comes to it, I will leave the BAU, I am sure a more stable nine to five job will be better when I have a lovely baby anyway." Hotch shook his head.

"I will not let you do that." She sighed.

"Then we need to separate our feelings from work." He nodded. "Now cheer up, I have something to tell you." His eyes brightened as they once again met his, no words were passed but she could read that he was waiting for her to continue. "The baby… it's a girl." Nothing happened for a moment, but then his smile grew bigger and bigger and his hands went to her stomach with a grin.

"A girl? A beautiful baby girl?" He kissed her stomach happily and Emily laughed, slightly tiredly.

"Yeah, a girl, now quit it with the kissing, and let me sleep." She told him and Hotch gave her a guilty look before smiling and giving her one last kiss on her forehead.

"Alright, good night Em, good night Angel." He rubbed her stomach one last time. "I'll be in in a few, I'm going to check on Jack." Another kiss and he left and Emily's eyes fell as she went into a deep sleep.


	13. Moving In, Moving Out

**I apologise for the mistake earlier! Here it actually is. **

**Chapter 13: Moving Out, Moving In.**

He gave another groan as he exhaustedly worked late again. No, he was not in his office, and today he was not even working on paperwork, instead his hands were laced with a couple of cuts and a blister or two. As he stood up, the finished product was on full display. A red racing car bed. His smile was amazing, proud of himself for pulling all of this together with little help in only a couple of weeks. Taking a step backwards to admire his complete work, he saw the red bedroom, with mid toned furniture. A wooden draw set sat in the corner, next to an exact replica of itself, all four draws filled to the brim with toys. The red racing car bed, with red sheets matched the freshly painted walls and looked perfect in the room. He neared the matching wooden door and flicked the light switch off and the room was plunged into darkness as he shut the door. Walking down the beige carpeted hallway (which he knew he was going to regret the colour of at some stage) he opened the next door, to switch on the light and see a cream room with the same zoo animal trim as Emily had already put in the old nursery, he smiled at all of the furnature that was now moved from her old box room to this more spacious one. Everything laid out perfectly, and a soft carpet in the middle of the floor, just coming off the corner of the mat sat a white rocking chair, which he was sure Emily would love. He jumped as his phone vibrated in his pocket, and looking at the display, he saw it was Emily.

"Hey." He answered, as he pressed the green button. "Yeah, Em, sorry, I just got carried away at work. I will be home in twenty. Sure, go to sleep. Night." He blew a kiss down the phone before hanging up and leaving that room, switching the light off and closing the door. He climbed down the matching carpeted staircase and got to where he was looking at the front door. To his left sat the living room, and if he turned slightly, and looked around the stairs, he would see the kitchen with joining dining room. Right under the stairs, where Harry Potter's' room would be, was a small bathroom with a shower and toilet. He gave a smile, knowing there was only one thing left to do in the house and then it would be completed and his hand swooped onto the side table by the door as he grabbed his keys and flicked all of the lights off before leaving and locking up the house.

As he climbed into the bed he smiled and fitted his body into Emily's, moulding it into the shape of her body. His hand wrapped around her now even bigger bump and his hand swirled in circles over her stomach. He softly kissed her neck.

"Well hello to you to." He heard her say, and then he moved his hand as she turned her body around (with some difficulty) to face him.

"I thought you were going to sleep?" Asked Hotch.

"I was… but you seem to find it impossible to come in quietly. But I don't blame you… when on earth are we going to actually carpet them stairs?" She smiled slightly and Hotch smiled back, but not for the same reason, he was happy because he knew about the new house, a perfect surprise for Emily and the baby. "I had an idea…" She spoke finally after a minute or so of silence.

"Really? What would that be?" He placed one of his hands back on her bump, the other moving some hair from her face.

"Jack… He decided that while I was asleep earlier, he was going to come in a talk to the baby." Hotch smiled. "It was really sweet, but it was something he said, it gave me a great idea…"

"Go on…" He waited.

"He said something about Lily's. I thought… Lillie… how sweet." Hotch was majorly confused, where on earth was she going with this? "What I mean to say is… What do you think about Lillie, for, the baby…" Another moment's silence came.

"Lillie." He repeated and his smile got bigger as he spoke to her stomach, "Hey, Lillie, do you like that name?" He waited, "Yeah, I loved it too." His eyes met her's again, "You know what, I love it. Lillie Prentiss. Now all she needs is a middle name…"

"Actually." Emily spoke up.

"Have you came up with one of them too?" Her head shook.

"But, I was really hoping you wouldn't mind if I gave her Hotchner…" His smile got even bigger.

"Really, Em?" She nodded.

"Hyphenated of course. My mother would have a fit if I gave away the Prentiss name, especially if it was her only grandchild. Lillie Hotchner-Prentiss." Hotch gave her a kiss.

"You know what, I love it. It is perfect." His hand rubber her stomach in circles. "Now, please, it's really late and I want you to be rested for work." She nodded, knowing if she did not get enough sleep she would have to stay off work to stop their relationship effecting their work.

"Sure." She rolled back over and they let their bodies mould into one.

"Good night, Emily." He gave her a kiss on the cheek and put his hand back on her stomach, "Good night, Lillie."

The shop was full of far too many options and he had no clue what to get, but he carried on flipping through a booklet of printed letters. Some in blue, pink, red, all colours really. Others with bears, dogs, butterflies. The options were too big. But then he found a perfect page, and settled on that.

"Can I have this please." He pointed and the man behind the counter nodded, flipping though the filling cabinet he pulled out a smaller box of letters.

"What letters?" He asked and took out a road track backing before looking for J-A-C-K that Hotch had asked for. Then, he laid them on the track, a red car with J, blue car with A, yellow car with C and a green car with K. While the man was away fixing the cars onto the backing, he flipped through the book further and stopped at an adorable one. He waited for the man to come back with the completed 'JACK' one before asking for the butterflies one. Once again, the man took out the box, and got out the grass and flower backing for the sign. L was on a purple butterfly, I on a pink one two more L's on purple, another pink I and then a purple E. Hotch was pleased with it, and the man went away to make the 'LILLIE' sign.

It took him a further half an hour to get the signs, pay and then go towards the new house. When he arrived, he dived straight for the drill and screws and took them both upstairs, carefully lining Jack's sign up on his door, he drilled a small but long screw in each corner, before going to Lillie's room and doing the same. He smiled slightly as he put the drill away, and went around the house to inspect one last time. Everything in the bathroom was perfect, each utility was sparkling perfectly and not a thing was out of place. Their bedroom was next on the stop and he made sure the bed was perfectly made and everything was right in there as well. The kitchen and downstairs bathroom were both also fine, along with the dining room, and the living room. He turned the fireplace on, warming the house up, knowing that now it was finished, he could bring everyone to see it.

They pulled into the driveway of the house, and Emily's eyes lit up.

"Hotch, I know you said we were coming to view a house or two, but can we stop now? This is perfect!" She smiled widely.

"I thought you might say that, but let's check inside, for all we know it could be a tip."

Entering the house, he saw Jack race up the stairs, and Emily's eyes got brighter.

"Hotch, seriously, I love it." She smiled, not having even entered any rooms yet.

"I thought you might do, so…" He jangled a key at her.

"Hotch, you have not brought the house." He nodded.

"About two and a half weeks ago… You might want to go and see Lillie's and Jack's rooms. After all, it has taken me, Morgan, Rossi and Reid (on occasions) a heck of a lot of house." Her smile got massive, and her arms wrapped around his neck as she passionately kissed him.

"I love you Hotch." He smiled back.

"I know you do, but come on, before Jack comes back down and spoils it all for you." Emily laughed and, with Hotch's help, she climbed the stairs to look at the rooms.


	14. Garcia

**A.N.**** Well, guys, this is the second to last chapter, and it has been amazing to write. Thanks for EVERY review (good and bad), all the subscriptions and alerts. Everything meant the world to me. I am also really thrilled to say thanks for reviewing and giving me a new highest reviews number. Now I need to beat that in a story... hmm. I'll probably be back in this section soon, as I always return for Hotch and Em, and when I do hopefully I find the time to write a sequel or a follow up for this. Anywho, keep reviewing! Maybe I can make it to 50? :D**

**Chapter 14: Garcia**

Her cheeks were slightly warm as the heat in the small office was overpowering, especially from the heat off of the computers. There was a small fan on the desk in front of her, only on the first level, but Emily did not want to freeze to death. She heard crazy clicks of a keyboard, then they became distant as Garcia moved over to another keyboard, then back to the closer one, but, focusing on the voluptuous red head became impossible as a strong pain welled up from her stomach. Her chair swivelled slightly from side to side as her hand rubbed softly in small circles. She restrained a groan as she bit her bottom lip again, but did not want to draw attention to herself because it was only a stupid stress cramp, the same horrible ones that she had previously had, but they had not turned up again since the few months ago. The cramp faded, but the ache in her back firmly stayed and her attention was drawn back to the red head at her computers. She took a deep breath to settle the ache, which Garcia clicked onto and she looked at her.

"Is everything okay?" She asked and Emily nodded her head.

"Just a bit hot." She watched as Garcia tried to reach over to the fan to turn it up but she stopped her, "I think I would rather boil than freeze, sorry." Garcia gave her a small smile and then a nod, her hand touching Emily's stomach just above Emily's hand.

"You giving your mommy a bit of trouble there, Lil'?" She asked and Emily had to smile as she went back to typing away on the computers.

After another while of the red head doing work, she stopped her typing to make small talk with Emily.

"So, what are you going to do tonight?" She asked.

"Probably just going to get Jack, make a bit of dinner and sleep. I'm far too exhausted now-a-days." Garcia gave her an amused smile.

"If you're this tired now, what on earth are you going to be like once the baby is born?" Emily pulled a tongue at her.

"I have no clue, but I guess I can sleep when she does. Thank God for maternity leave, hey?" She joked.

"If you just told Morgan, he would assign you to maternity leave from the minute to tell him, and if you are that tired, maybe you should do so…" She suggested, but Emily shook her head.

"No, I need to get this work done. I just feel like I am doing nothing from being here." She sighed, "It doesn't matter anyway, only a few weeks left!" A small smile was passed from them both before she felt another pain rising. "Sorry, bathroom!" She excused herself and Garcia could have sworn she had never saw Emily move that fast normally.

Getting into the toilet, she felt herself clutch onto the sink with her hands as tightly as she could. She gave out a groan, at last seeing she was alone. Another minute and she waited for it to pass; she now knew that this was not her normal stress cramp and she dug her phone from her pocket, calling the one number she knew she should call… One ring, another ring… and again, no answer. She hung up and cursed slightly, before deciding to call another team member. One ring… tw- They picked up.

"Rossi…" She heard the voice say.

"Hey, Dave." She said.

"Sorry, Em, Hotch is on the field at the minute, what can I do for you?" She laughed slightly.

"It's fine… but um… I don't think I am." She could hear the panic raise in his breath. "No, don't worry. I think I'm having contractions… okay, I am having contractions, but they're really far apart and aren't to bad at the minute. D'you think you could get Hotch back home in an hour or two?" She asked hopefully.

"You kidding me, I'm sure he would be there within thirty minutes if he could. I will tell him." Rossi joked and Emily gave a laugh that was not natural or even realistic.

"Thanks, Rossi. Call me when you get him, please don't panic the rest of the team." She told him.

"Alright. Good luck there." She smiled and hung up. Her phone slid back in her pocket and she left the toilets, walking back into Garcia's office she gave her a small smile.

"Sorry, I think she has decided my bladder is a toy." Garcia laughed back.

"Are you okay?" She asked, again.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Emily replied.

"Are you sure, Emily, you look pale, do you want me to drive you home?" Garcia offered but Emily shook her head.

"No, I'm fine." She sat back down and neither said another word.

A while later, about three or four contractions later, and Emily was finding the pain level to be rising. Her teeth gritted as she hoped Hotch to get here soon, and as the pain hit, she could not contain it, and she let out a small moan. Immediately, Garcia's eyes were on her.

"What was that?" She asked.

"Nothing?" She said, more trying to convince herself more than anything.

"Emily, don't lie to me, what on earth is going on?" She persisted. Emily took a deep, shaky breath.

"I'm in labour." She finally told her and Garcia's eyes widened as she stood up from her chair.

"What?" She helped Em up. "Hospital, now. Why did you not tell me?" She asked, looking slightly ticked off.

"I don't know, I guess I just want Hotch to be here." She looked saddened.

"Sweetie, by not telling anyone, it's not going to make the labour stop, it's only going to progress either way, but now you've told me, I will call him and he will be on the next jet." The red head went to press the call button on her phone but Emily stopped her.

"He already knows. I called Rossi. He said Hotch would be over soon."

"You called him and never even told me?" Garcia fumed, but she stopped as Emily hunched over, holding onto the desk with one hand, her stomach with the other. She groaned slightly. Pen's hand went to her back and rubbed in circles. "Just breathe. Deep breaths." She carried on rubbing her back before Emily stood back properly up.

In the car Garcia was driving like a mad woman, and Emily had to laugh slightly, until she was cut off with another pain. Her hands immediately went to the front of the car and she groaned again. Then her groan stopped as she felt shock as well as another sensation.

"Uh oh…" Garcia frantically looked at Emily, then back to the road, then back to Emily again.

"'Uh oh'? Uh oh what?" She asked.

"I think my waters just broke…" Now Garcia was more panicked.

"You _think_. How can you _think_ that? Either they have or they haven't!" She drove a little faster.

"Okay then. I might have peed myself or my waters have broken…" She bit her lip. "Yes then, they have." Surrendering, she felt the car speed up even faster and within a minute or two later, she was at the hospital and Garcia was getting her out of the car, but she stopped getting a call.

"Garcia." She quickly said, while supporting Emily.

"Hey, tell Em I have landed." It was Hotch. She let out a breath of relief.

"Hotch has landed, don't panic, okay?" She told Emily, "We're at the hospital." She said back into the phone and she heard him hand up telling her he was on his way.

His hand was being crushed to pieces and Hotch could have sworn every bone in his hand was broken, but it was all worth it.

"Come on, Emily, one last push and we will have you baby girl." The midwife spurred her on for the thousandth time in the past hour.

"You said that last time!" She snapped, but on the contraction she gave it all she had and pushed as hard as she could. Luckily, relief washed over her body as she felt herself be relieved of the pain and a second later, cries filled the room.

The small bundle of pink blankets was placed in her arms a while later, now moved into a clean room, and she smiled down at the small, sleeping child. Hotch, from next to her, extended his finger out, and smoothed it over the small baby's cheek, also smiling like mad.

"She is beautiful, Emily." He informed her.

"Thanks." She smiled widely and cooed at the child. "Awh, hear that, princess? Daddy Hotch says you're beautiful. And you are, yes you are." She rocked her slightly and smiled even bigger despite her exhaustion. "You are the cutest little button ever. My little Lillie Garcia Hotchner-Prentiss." She smiled and Hotch rolled his eyes.

"Why didn't you just give her all of the names of the team, ey? Lillie Garcia Jennifer Morgan Reid Rossi Hotchner-Prentiss." He teased and Emily laughed.

"Don't be silly!" She laughed slightly and rocked Lillie some more. "Besides, I needed some names left for any other children I may have!" Hotch gave her a kiss on the head.

"I think it is perfect, Em, Little Lillie. Can I?" He asked and Emily passed him the bundle carefully. "Hello, angel." He kissed the baby's head with a soft smile. Just then the door opened and in came the whole team, and Emily could not help but laugh seeing everyone in there, all cooing over the baby.

"She is perfect, Em." JJ smiled at her.

"I know." Emily gave her biggest smile ever and collapsed back into her pillows, exhausted.


	15. Big Brother

**A.N.** So I didn't exactly make my goal review count, but that's not bothering me, always a goal to reach on a new fanfic, right? So to all you deserving people and anyone still reading, here is your final chapter…

Enjoy.

**Chapter 15: Big Brother**

Playing in his new room, Jack raced the cars around on the track with great speed, and watched as they turned the loop. He giggled happily, and watched as one got to the top, slowed down and fell off of the track. Both of his eyes looked up as he saw his bedroom door opening to reveal Emily in the door way. She was giving him a big smile, yet she looked absolutely exhausted since it was only nine in the morning.

"Morning." She said and Jack gave her a big smile.

"Morning!" He chirped back.

"You ready for your bath?" She asked and Jack nodded, standing up and following her down the hallway to the bathroom.

Jack stood in his bedroom with his top and jeans on, smiling happily at Emily.

"When's the barbeque?" He asked, and Emily could hear the excitement in his voice.

"Dad's getting back at about twp to set everything up and then everyone is getting here at about three." She informed him.

"Yay!" A cry came down the hallway and was heard in Jack's room. "Lillie's up." He said in a sing song voice.

"I can hear." Emily gave him a smile before leaving the bedroom and going down the hall. As she reached Lillie's room the cries became louder, and opening the door, she could have sworn her child was a fog horn. "Hey. Hey. Sshh, sweetie. Mummy's here." She walked to the crib where the small child was still bellowing her lungs out, and her arms went around her and she carefully picked her up, rocking her from side to side. Her hand wiped her daughters cheeks to take away the tears and then she kissed her on the head. "Shall we get you bathed and dressed?" She asked, and fished under the changing table to get the plastic bath tub out. Once she had finally fished out the yellow box, she took it into the bathroom and put it on the floor before going back to the bedroom to find the baby's shampoo and stuff. Carrying all that back the put the bath in the sink and filled it with slightly warm water before trying her best to get it back on the floor without spilling anything, and failing, quite miserably, she sat on the floor and began to undress Lillie.

Jack appeared in the slightly ajar doorway, and saw as Emily started to undress Lillie.

"I…I…" She looked up and smiled slightly seeing him standing there with one of Lillie's pre-made bottles in his hand, cold, obviously.

"Awh, thanks, Jack." She gave him a big smile and invited him into the bathroom. "I've just got to bath her and then we can give her a bottle…" She saw him nod and begin to walk away with a solemn look on his face. "Jack." Stopping him from walking any further, his eyes lit up as he looked back at her, "Do you want to come and help me bath her?" She asked, and she could have sworn she had never seen him so eager in his life.

"Yes please!" He bounced into the room.

"Okay, while I get her changed, will you check the water?" Looking up to see Emily's face, he looked slightly confused.

"Er…" She smiled; he was far too adorable!

"What you need to do is put your hand in and see if the water is too hot or too cold. Alright?" He nodded and pulled his sleeve up, letting his hand drop into the tub with a splash.

"It's a bit cold isn't it?" He looked confused.

"Remember, Lillie's only a little baby, she can't have the bath too hot, so as long as it's slightly warm it's fine." He nodded, and plunged his hand back into the tub, his tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth with concentration.

"It's fine then!" He flashed her a big smile.

"Okay then." Emily's attention fell back to Lillie who was wriggling in her lap. "See that, your big brother is great at looking after you!" She cooed and saw Lillie looking at her as if she were crazy. The infant's arms stretched up to try and touch Emily and she strained slightly. "Yeah, let's get you bathed." Carefully she picked her nappy's Velcro straps and checked for a moment to see if she had gone the toilet, happy that she had not, she let the nappy drop off before dipping her slightly into the bath. It was a second or two that nothing was said or heard, but after a moment, Lillie's cries filled the room.

"I don't think she likes it!" Jack looked slightly put off and backed away slightly.

"It's okay, she's just not used to the water, she will be fine with it soon enough." Emily took a handful of water and tried her best to wet her head so she could wash her hair faster.

"I've got an idea!" Was all Jack said before she saw him dash away and come back a second later with a yellow bath duck in his hand. He bobbed it in the water, before showing it to Lillie who had now stopped crying, instead, both of her hands tried to grab for the duck, and when Jack finally gave it to her, she tried to hungrily eat it.

Drying Lillie off, Emily now sat on the floor of the bedroom throwing different lotions and talc's over her. Jack laughed slightly watching Emily carefully.

"Is there anything I can do?" He asked, with hopeful eyes. Thinking for a moment, Emily paused.

"You can get me her nappy, and pick her an outfit out if you want to…" He suggested. Jack's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree as he raced and got a nappy, passing it to Emily he told her he would be right back and when he finally returned, a package was in his hand.

"Daddy said that I should give you this at the picnic, but can Lillie wear it… please." His bottom lip went into a pout and Emily smiled, taking the parcel off of him and opening it. Inside lay a red and white polka-dotted dressed. A white ribbon around the waist and Emily had to smile.

"Jack, it's beautiful…" She gave him a hug.

"I saved up all my pocket money to get her it." He gave her a big smile.

"Come here." Emily's arms wrapped around him in a hug and she gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you." She let him go and began to dress Lillie at last.

"What do you want to eat?" She asked, Lillie balanced in one arm, the other working to warm Lillie's bottle and to sort Jack out.

"Nothing." His head shook. "I'm fine." He gave her a big smile.

"Alright then, so, what are you going to do until the barbeque later?" She asked, and checked the still cold bottle.

"I don't know…" She watched as he bit his lip slightly, hiding something…

"What?" She asked, now giving him her full attention.

"Can I…" He paused. "Can I hold Lillie?" He asked, and as Emily's head nodded he raced over to the couch. Emily adjusted the cushions around him, before helping him to hold his arms properly, then, she gently put Lillie in his arms. "Hello…" He cooed at her, and gently he rocked her. "I'm your big brother. I'm going to keep you safe. I promise." He gave her a big toothy grin and continued, "And nothing's ever going to happen to you, because I'm going to be there and I'm going to look after you." Emily could not help but smile and leaving Jack's side she went back into the open plan kitchen, and picked up her bottle before going back to her side. It was only a minute or so later but Lillie started crying her lungs out again and Jack looked slightly startled. "What did I do wrong?" He asked, scared that he had broken her.

"Nothing, don't worry, she's just cranky because she's hungry." Emily carefully picked her back out of his arms and rested her back in her own before checking the bottle one last time and feeding it to her. She waited a minute or two, thinking Jack was going to dart back to his room, but he stayed watching her carefully. A minute or so after Lillie started to drink her bottle, her eyes began to drop and the drinking stopped. Emily twisted the bottle in her mouth and she began drinking again. The doorbell rang, and Emily watched Jack race off of the couch.

"Don't open the door unless you know them." She told him and then heard the sound of Jack shouting through the door.

"Who is it?" He waited.

"It's Morgan." Jack looked to Emily who nodded and let him open the door, and true to his word, Morgan walked through the door, followed by the rest of the team.

"I thought you weren't getting here until three?" She asked quietly as both Garcia and JJ ran over to look at Lillie. "And where's Hotch?" She asked.

"Yeah, he got caught up in work so we came to set up… by 'we' I mean, us guys came to set up, those two," He nodded to JJ and Garcia, "Came to look at Lillie." Emily smiled and told them the stuff was in the garage. She watched them all leave, Jack right behind them and JJ and Garcia took turns to hold Lillie once she had had enough of her bottle.


End file.
